Restoration of contact-inhibited growth to transformed cells by dibutyryl adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate.

Spontaneously transformed and virally-transformed cells are restored to contact-inhibited growth by the addition of dibutyryl cyclic AMP to the nutrient medium. Theophylline, an inhibitor of the phosphodiesterase that degrades cyclic nucleotides, must also be present for maximal effect. Once the transformed cells reach a saturation density in the presence of the additives, release from the contact-inhibited state occurs upon removal of the dibutyryl cyclic AMP and theophylline from the medium. Agglutinability of the transformed cells by wheat-germ agglutinin (a monitor of architectural changes in the plasma membrane) is decreased by dibutyryl cyclic AMP-theophylline treatment, but increases again upon removal of the additives.