lymphoma cell line morphologic change during propagation

[malizewski]

i got lymphoma cell line Toledo from ATCC. while propagated, tumor cells turned smaller and have a tendency to aggregate like grapes but proliferation of cell is faster. Is that common? What is the cause?

[marcusho]

Sounds like stressful conditions on the cells upon a new environment. That or it's their natural way to survive? Check their protocol for culturing the cells and compare with what you're doing. Contact their tech support if you need to.

-Passage the cells a couple more times and see if there's still morphology change.

-could also be something off or missing in the media?

i would think something similar to how rbc aggregates in blood, can be caused by inflammation making proinflammatory cytokines or large proteins like fibrinogen.

you should take pics

[marcusho]

Seems like the cells are stressed out somehow. take pics and contact atcc for a protocol on how to culture the cells and make sure all conditions match what you're doing.

-could be something missing in the media? a growth factor or antioxidant not there?

-when i think of cells aggregating, i think of RBC and usually that's from inflammation of some sort triggering proinflammatory cytokines to be released and other large proteins responsible for the clumping. like fibrinogen.

-it is also possible that the cells are supposed to do that. passage them a few more times and see if it persists.

-are the cells adherent or in suspension? if they're in suspension, you could try coating your plates/flasks with a basement membrane before seeding the cells,,,,, it'll force them to not aggregate as much and you can see if they survive better. if the cells are adherent, use trypsin, accutase or another strong detachment enzyme and after spinning down the cells, resuspend the pellet vigorously so that they are single cells and then plate them to see if aggregation goes away