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Different Extracellular Calcium Requirements for Proliferation of Nonneoplastic, Preneoplastic, and Neoplastic Mouse Cells¹

Animal and Cell Physiology Group, Division of Biological Sciences, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0R6

The DNA-synthetic and proliferative activities of freshly isolated, nontumorigenic C3H mouse skin cells (first passage) were lowest when the extracellular free (or ionic) calcium level was reduced to between 0.05 and 0.1 mM, whereas the extracellular free calcium level in cultures of repeatedly passaged, preneoplastic C3H/10T and MCA-C3H/10T type I mouse fetal fibroblasts had to be reduced to 0.01 mM or less before the DNA-synthetic and proliferative activities were minimal. This inhibition of DNA synthesis and cell multiplication by calcium deprivation was rapidly reversed by returning the extracellular calcium level to its normal value. In contrast, the neoplastic fibrosarcomaforming, MCA-C3H/10T type III mouse fetal fibroblasts could synthesize DNA and could multiply indefinitely even in the presence of an extremely low concentration of extracellular free calcium. Thus, the extracellular calcium requirement for DNA synthesis and proliferation appears to reflect the tumorigenic potential of the cell.

¹ National Research Council of Canada Publication 1611.

Received 2/14/77. Accepted 5/13/77.