title: Time-course of spontaneous transformation of CD-1 mouse embryonic fibroblasts.
abstract: The spontaneous transformation of cultured mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) from the outbred CD-1 mouse strain was investigated. Four MEF clones, obtained from four different mouse embryos, were cultured continuously for periods ranging from 300 to 400 days. MEF cells entered a "crisis" with acute loss of proliferation capacity after 16 +/- 2 days of culture. Surviving cells gradually acquired properties of transformed cells with the following times: the capacity to grow at a cell density of 10(5) cells/cm2 was acquired after 269 +/- 45 days. Twenty-five % anchorage-dependent colony forming ability was observed after 255 +/- 39 days. 0.5% anchorage-independent colony forming ability was observed after 290 +/- 54 days. Protective factors capable of significantly delaying the above events might be investigated with the MEF system.
authors.affiliation: DNA Repair Unit, Mutagenesis Laboratory-Istituto Nazionale Ricerca Cancro, Largo Rosanna Benzi n. 10, 16132 Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Ottavio
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Ottavia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Barbieri
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Frosina
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002455:Cell Division; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed / Q000166:cytology; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D002478:Cells, Cultured / Q000166:cytology; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000166:cytology; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D013997:Time Factors