Death of serum-free mouse embryo cells caused by epidermal growth factor deprivation is prevented by cycloheximide, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, or vanadate.

Serum-free mouse embryo cells cultured in medium supplemented with insulin, transferrin, high-density lipoprotein, and fibronectin are dependent on epidermal growth factor for survival. Cycloheximide or actinomycin D prevented cell death caused by growth factor deprivation, suggesting that cell death required the synthesis of RNA and protein, a phenomenon similar to that reported for neuronal cell death in the absence of nerve growth factor. Orthovanadate, an inhibitor of phosphotyrosine phosphatases, and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, an activator of protein kinase C, also prevented serum-free mouse embryo cell death in the absence of epidermal growth factor.