Overgrowth-stimulating activity of disrupted chick embryo cells and cells infected with Rous sarcoma virus.

Sonically disrupted chick embryo cells markedly stimulate DNA synthesis and cell multiplication when added to the medium of population density-inhibited cultures of such cells, but have little effect on the growth rate of sparse cultures. Sonicates from density-inhibited chick embryo cultures have as much overgrowth-stimulating activity as do sonicates from actively growing cells. Sonicates from cells infected with Rous sarcoma virus show markedly increased overgrowth-stimulating activity 4 days after infection. The activity in Rous-cell sonicates falls back to near normal amounts at 6 days concurrently with the appearance of a high content of overgrowth-stimulating activity in the medium. The active material is nondialyzable. It seems that growth-inhibited cells contain material in a sequestered location which, when released, can stimulate rapid growth in similarly inhibited cells.