Experimental results on mammalian cells growing in vitro in deuterated medium for neutron-scattering studies.

SV-40 virus-transfromed human diploid fibroblasts (2RA) were grown in a monolayer on plastic Petri dishes in an aqueous medium deuterated to different concentrations of deuterium oxide: 10, 20, 30, up to 60%. The cells must be acclimatized to concentrations higher than 20% D2O by stepping them from a lower initial concentration during their exponential growth. The increase of cell doubling time with increasing deuterium concentrations seems to correlate, at least at 20% D20, with an initial period of suspended cell growth (lag-phase), and is qualitatively similar to that previously reported for Escherichia coli.