Characteristics of C3H/He mouse embryo cell lines established by culture with or without benzaldehyde.

The characteristics of RME-5-3-1 cell line, which had been established from C3H/He mouse embryos by culture in benzaldehyde-containing medium, were compared with those of a benzaldehyde-untreated cell line, RME-5-1, derived from the same embryos as the former and with those of RME-5-1/TMT cell line, reestablished from the tumors induced by implantation of RME-5-1 cells into syngeneic mice. The characterization of these cell lines covered cell morphology, chromosome distribution, population doubling time, saturation density, fibronectin, epidermal growth factor receptor, plasminogen activator, ornithine decarboxylase, anchorage-independent growth and transplantability into mice. The results indicated that RME-5-3-1 cells had well-preserved normal phenotypes, while both RME-5-1 and RME-5-1/TMT cells showed malignant phenotypes to varying degrees.