Ultrastructural comparison of transformed human cells and their normal counterparts at various passage levels

Abstract

A comparison of the ultrastructures of two lines of human cells transformed by the oncogenic virus, SV40, revealed that the percentage of mitochondria with completely transverse cristae, the number of lysosomes and autophagic vacuoles, the morphology of the nucleus and endoplasmic reticulum, and the paucity of Golgi apparatus, were similar in both lines. These characteristics, previously shown to be age-related in the cells from which these lines originated, are similar to those found in young normal cells. These transformed lines differed from each other only in their percentage of bizarre mitochondria. Since one of the transformed lines originated from cells in early passage and the other from cells in late passage, the inverse correlation between Golgi-lysosomal activity and division potential suggests that the line derived from late passage cells either underwent a major change in this activity or is derived from the occasional “young” cells believed to occur in old cultures.