Influence of time and osmolarity on nuclear area of tumor cells growing in vitro.

We investigated the simultaneous influence of the time of cultivation and of the osmolarity of the medium on nuclear sizes in vitro. Cells from a permanent cell line (MaTu), derived from a human breast cancer, were used. We found a linear increase of nuclear size during the first 64 h in culture. In contrast to the important influence of time on nuclear size in culture, even distinct variations of the osmolarity of the medium had little influence on nuclear size. Only if the osmolarity rose by 28% was there a clear reduction of nuclear size.