Nutritional Stress of Cultured Vero Cells Causes Altered Growth and Morphology as Seen in Neoplastic Transformation

Abstract

In this report, the authors describe the effects of stressed culture conditions on Vero cells, which are a form of epithelial cells derived from the African green monkey kidney. This project was designed in large part to replicate a previously published report on the effects of nutritional stress on the growth patterns of these cells. Culture conditions that include nutritional limitation and cell crowding have been shown to transform these cells into cells that differ morphologically, develop into spheroid- shaped clusters, as well as exhibit altered protein expression. It was suggested that these changes might mirror those occurring in metastatic cancer cells, and could therefore provide a useful experimental model system. In the current study, the investigators successfully cultured Vero cells in control cultures, and then compared their growth patterns and morphology to cells grown in nutritionally stressed and overcrowded cell culture conditions defined by extensive days in culture in unchanged media which did or did not contain glucose. The results confirmed that nutritionally stressed and over-crowded cultures result in cells that change morphologically, detach from the substrate, and exhibit spheroid-shaped clusters of cells. Sub-culturing these detached cells demonstrated that the results were permanent, meaning that the new growth patterns and clustering persisted. The results suggest that deprivation of nutrition and other factors essential to life may facilitate aberrant growth. KEYWORDS: Vero Cells, Nutritional Stress, Cell Morphology, Neoplastic Transformation, Malignant Cells, Spheroid Formation.