The induction of transformed-like morphology and enhanced growth in Syrian hamster embryo cells grown at acidic pH.

The effect of the pH, Na+ concentration and osmolality of the culture medium on early passage Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) clonal cell proliferation was examined. The pH of the medium was adjusted from 6.49 to 7.45 by addition of different amounts of NaHCO3 to the medium and incubating the cell cultures in a fixed atmosphere of 10% CO2/90% air. Our results indicate that clonal SHE cell proliferation is optimal at pH 6.65-6.80 while plating efficiency is independent of pH between 6.65 and 7.45. Adjustment of Na+ to that concentration in the medium (3450 p.p.m., 0.15 M) of the greatest NaHCO3 addition caused a moderate depression of cell proliferation over the entire pH series. Adjusting the osmolality of the culture medium to a constant value of 338 mOsm/kg did not alter the pH effect on cell proliferation. The pH of the medium also affected cellular and colony morphology. Below pH 6.90 there was an increase in the number of colonies which exhibited a transformed-like morphology ('altered' colonies). The 'altered' phenotype was characterized by a multilayered, criss-cross pattern of growth throughout the colony. This phenotype was stable upon sub-cloning into pH 6.65 medium but was reversible if sub-cloned into pH 7.36 medium. The induction of 'altered' colonies at low pH could be partially suppressed by Na+ or osmolality adjustment. These results are discussed in terms of optimizing growth conditions for SHE cells in order to enhance their usefulness for cell transformation studies. The induction of 'altered' colonies by low pH is also discussed relative to the involvement of pH regulation in tumor-promoter and growth-factor action on cells in culture.