Evaluation of the drug-induced morphological differentiation of rat glioma cells (C-6) from the aspects of S-100 protein level and con A binding pattern.

The intracellular content of the nervous system specific protein S-100 began to increase with 4 days latency following the morphological differentiation of cultured rat glioma cells (C-6) with 1 mM dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dbcAMP), rising to approximately 10-fold over the control level at 15 days after the treatment. The concanavalin A (Con A) binding pattern on the external cell surface of C-6 cells exposed to dbcAMP appeared as a smooth layer of 40-60 nm thickness whereas that of control cells was irregularly thick and patchy. The correlation between morphological and biochemical changes of C-6 cells after dbcAMP treatment is discussed in relation to the mechanism controlling the differentiation of glioma cells.