Abstract
We studied effects of long term administration of dexamethasone phosphate on the morphology of cultured cells, number of chromosomes and sensitivity to antitumor agent using the cell line RLC-24 (from normal rat liver) and the AH-601 (from rat ascites hepatoma).
After long term culture of these cells with a concentration of 4μg/ml dexamethasone phosphate which does not influence on cellular proliferation, change of cell morphology was observed in AH-601 5 months after the culture initiated. Number of chromosomes of the cultured cells after administration of dexamethasone phosphate in both RLC-24 and AH-601 tended to be smaller than those of control cells cultured in the dexamethasone free medium. After long term culture with 4μg/ml dexamethasone phosphate in RLC-24, a slight inhibition of proliferation was observed in both dexamethasone phosphate treated and untreated cells at a concentration of 5μg/ml Cisplatin, but no differences were noted between these two groups. In AH-601 cells, under a condition of the same concentration of dexamethasone phosphate, inhibition of proliferation appeared more severe, but its inhibitory effect was less potent in dexamethasone phosphate treated cells than in control cells. Histologic study of transplanted AH-601 cells to nude mice showed no apparent differences between cells treated with or without dexamethasone phosphate on the severity of malignancy.
