Reversible arrest of proliferation of rat 3Y1 fibroblasts in both the G1 and G2 phases by trichostatin A.

Proliferation of rat 3Y1 cells was found to be specifically blocked by trichostatin A (TSA) at two distinct stages in the cell cycle. The first block occurred in the early G1 phase at least 9 h before the G1/S boundary, whereas the second occurred during the G2 phase. When TSA-arrested cells at the G2 phase were released from the inhibition, the cells with 4C DNA entered a new S phase without passage through the M phase, resulting in the formation of proliferative tetraploid cells. The removal of TSA induced a rapid transient increase in the transcription of c-fos and the cells required 15 h to enter the S phase after release. These results suggest that the cells arrested with TSA are quiescent (G0).