Alpha-aminoisobutyric acid transport into human glia and glioma cells in culture.

The AIB transport into human glia and glioma cells in culture has been studied. Because of the high affinity of AIB to the plastic culture dishes, a special washing technique had to be developed. With this technique, it was possible to perform transport experiments in a single plate containing about one million cells. The cells were viable, intact and adhered to the supporting medium throughout the experiment. The AIB transport into both types of cells was Na+-dependent and showed saturation kinetics when the small component of the transport due to diffusion had been subtracted. The AIB transport capacity of neoplastic glioma cells was 3.6 times higher than that of glia cells. This difference was related to the Vmax-values for the two types of cells. The apparent Km-values were the same. Inhibition experiments with other amino acids support the view that AIB is transported via System A in both glia and glioma cells. Sulfhydryl reagents (ethacrynic acid and NEM) and cytochalasin B clearly inhibited the AIB transport into glia cells whereas the effect on glioma cells was minimal.