title: Characterization of ethanol-sensitive and insensitive fibroblast cell lines expressing human L1.
abstract: Ethanol inhibits L1-mediated cell-cell adhesion in fibroblast cell lines stably transfected with human L1. Here we show that this action of ethanol is present in only a subset of transfected NIH/3T3 and L cell clonal cell lines. All L1-expressing cell lines had higher levels of cell adhesion than cell lines transfected with empty vector. In all ethanol-sensitive cell lines, L1-mediated adhesion was inhibited by ethanol (IC50 5-10 mM), 2 mM butanol, but not 5 mM pentanol. In contrast, ethanol-insensitive cell lines were not inhibited by up to 200 mM ethanol, 2 mM butanol, or 5 mM pentanol. Ethanol sensitivity or insensitivity was a stable property of each cell line and was not associated with differences in electrophoretic mobility, abundance, or cell surface localization of L1. Fab fragments prepared from anti-L1 polyclonal antisera inhibited cell adhesion only in the ethanol-sensitive cell lines. These data suggest that L1 may exist in an alcohol-sensitive or an alcohol-insensitive state that may be governed by host cell factors.
authors.affiliation: Neurology Service, West Roxbury VA Medical Center, Massachusetts 02132, USA.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Wilkemeyer
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Charness
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D000438:Alcohols / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects; D002460:Cell Line; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000502:physiology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000438:Alcohols; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D000431:Ethanol