Ys. Schiffenbauer et al., CYCLOCREATINE TRANSPORT AND CYTOTOXICITY IN RAT GLIOMA AND HUMAN OVARIAN-CARCINOMA CELLS - P-31-NMR SPECTROSCOPY, American journal of physiology. Cell physiology, 39(1), 1996, pp. 160-169
Cyclocreatine (CY), an analogue of creatine, inhibits tumor growth in
vivo and proliferation of tumor cells in vitro. The goal of this study
was to probe the mechanism of CY transport and cytotoxicity in C6 rat
glioma cells and OC238 human ovarian carcinoma cells (creatine kinase
activities of 0.16 and 0.016 units/mg protein, respectively). In both
cell lines, CY significantly inhibited cell growth with no effect on
membrane integrity and on the content of nucleoside triphosphates. An
intrinsic P-31-nuclear magnetic resonance (P-31-NMR) signal ofphosphoc
reatine, as well as accumulation of phosphocyclocreatine (PCY) after a
ddition of CY, was observed for C6 glioma but not for the OC238 cells.
Transport of CY in C6 glioma showed Michaelis-Menten kinetics for an
active sodium-dependent component. Transport was reduced more than fiv
efold in low-glucose medium. The toxicity of CY to C6 glioma cells may
be due to PCY accumulation and cellular swelling. Another mechanism m
ust be invoked to explain CY effects on the human ovarian cancer cells
in which no PCY accumulation could be detected and no cellular swelli
ng was observed.