Quantification of acetaldehyde and carbon dioxide in the headspace of malignant and non-malignant lung cells in vitro by SIFT-MS.

Previous studies using selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry, SIFT-MS, showed that CALU-1 lung cancer cell cultures emit acetaldehyde in proportion to the number of cells in the culture medium. However, studies in another laboratory led to conflicting results, so these SIFT-MS studies have been repeated and extended to include NL20 normal lung epithelial cells and 35FL121 Tel+ telomerase positive lung fibroblast cells. Thus, SIFT-MS has been used to quantify acetaldehyde and, additionally, carbon dioxide, acetone and ethanol in the headspace of the cell culture medium alone and the headspace of the appropriate medium containing 50 x 10(6) or 80 x 10(6) cells following incubation for 16 h at 37 degrees C. Three independent experiments were carried out for each cell type for both cell numbers and for each of the two culture media used. The results showed that acetone and ethanol were only released by the culture medium, specifically from the foetal calf serum contained in the medium, and not by the cells. Acetaldehyde was also released by the medium, but at relatively lower levels than the other three compounds, and was also generated by the CALU-1 and NL20 cell cultures in proportions to the number of cells in the medium. However, following incubation, the acetaldehyde levels in the headspace of the 35FL121 Tel+ cell cultures were much lower than those present in the headspace of the medium alone. Carbon dioxide was clearly generated by the CALU-1 and 35FL121 Tel+ cells indicating that they were respiring normally, but much less was produced by the NL20 cells, presumably indicating that normal metabolism was being inhibited.