Thermal behavior of HeLa and KB cells in suspension and attached to glass

Abstract

HeLa S-3 and KB cells were grown in a LKB Batch Microcalorimeter under a variety of nutrient medium conditions and mixing intervals. These conditions produced rather large apparent endothermic and exothermic responses on mixing that could be correlated with the presence of suspended cells (unattached) as well as cells attached to the glass calorimeter vessel. Cells capable of being resuspended upon mixing of the calorimeter vessel produces first an endothermic followed by an exothermic signal while attached cells produced only an apparent endothermic response. The exothermic response is believed to be associated with increased metabolic heat on suspending the cells followed by partial suppression of the steady state metabolic heat on cell settling. Rates of cell settling correlated well with the rate of decay of the exothermic signal. The rapid appearance of endothermicity on mixing suggests it is associated with rapid events such as binding of nutrients to cell surfaces. The response in the endothermic direction on mixing is discussed in terms of the disruption of mechanisms which tend to exclude nutrients from the surface of the cell.