Methylmercury induces release of a cytotoxic factor from HEK293 cells into medium

抄録

HEK293 cells were cultured in medium containing methylmercury (MeHg), followed by replacement with MeHg-free medium and further culturing. Thus, MeHg preconditioning medium (MeHg-PM) were obtained. Untreated HEK293 cells and C17.2 cells (mouse neural stem cells) were placed in the obtained MeHg-PM for culturing, which resulted in significantly inhibited cell growth. This cell growth inhibition was not affected by heating or proteinase K treatment, suggesting that neither proteins nor peptides caused the growth inhibition.