Induction of hyaluronic acid synthetase activity in rat fibroblasts by medium change of confluent cultures.

Hyaluronic acid synthesis in cultured cells usually occurs during the growth phase. The relation between hyaluronic acid synthetase activity and cell proliferation is studied. The synthetase activity in rat fibroblasts is high during the growth phase, but low in the stationary phase. When the old medium of stationary cultures is renewed with fresh medium containing 20% calf serum, DNA synthesis occurs synchronously between 12 and 20 hours, followed by cell division. Under these conditions, the hyaluronic acid synthetase activity is significantly induced within two hours, reaching a maximum level at 5--8 hours, and then decreases gradually. This induction of the synthetase, which shows a high turnover rate, requires continued synthesis of both RNA and protein. Furthermore, the induction of both DNA and hyaluronic acid synthesis is found to be caused by calf serum added in the medium. However, dialysis and ultrafiltration of the serum permit us to concentrate an active fraction with a high molecular weight, which induces the synthetase activity, but not DNA synthesis.