Cell surface-mediated cellular interactions: effects of B104 neuroblastoma surface determinants on C6 glioma cellular properties.

To study the influence of cell surface-associated molecules on intercellular communication, C6 glioma cells were cultured both on plastic and on substrata of paraformaldehyde-fixed B104 neuroblastoma cells. By then comparing the phenotypic expression of these "cocultured" C6 cells with cells cultured on tissue culture plastic, the influence of the cellular substratum was determined. The beta-adrenergic-responsive cyclic AMP-generating system of C6 cells was compared on these various substrata. We found that fixed beds of dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dbcAMP)-treated B104 cells uncoupled beta-receptors from adenylate cyclase, whereas fixed beds of similarly treated C6 cells did not. However, other cellular properties were not affected by growth atop fixed dbcAMP-treated B104 cell beds including the rate of C6 cellular proliferation and their rate of protein synthesis. The cell surface-associated determinant on B104 cells capable of uncoupling the beta-responsive cyclase system of C6 cells is probably a protein, as judged by its susceptibility to protease treatment. Other properties of C6 cells were also affected by the various substrata including basal and hydrocortisone-induced levels of glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH; an oligodendroglial marker) and the rate of RNA synthesis in these cells.