INFLUENCE OF CULTURE MEDIA AND MULTIDRUG-RESISTANCE ON THE WHEAT-GERM-AGGLUTININ (WGA) GLYCOCYTOCHEMICAL EXPRESSION OF 2 HUMAN GLIOBLASTOMACELL LINES

Over the last two decades, many studies carried out with the aid of le ctins have firmly established that cell glycans usually change in the course of the normal processes of growth and development, as well as i n pathological situations. We describe here the in vivo binding expres sion of wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) to the U87 and U373 human glioblas toma cell lines exposed to various culture media i.e., media supplemen ted with either 10% (FCS10) or 1% (FCS1) fetal calf serum with or with out 10 n Mol/l 17 beta-oestradiol (E2). After exposure to chemotherape utic agents, the resistant variants (CR) developed by the two cell lin es were also investigated. The quantitative cytochemical assessment of WGA binding was assessed by means of a cell image processor, which wa s also used to determine ploidy level (on Feulgen-stained nuclei) by m eans of DNA histogram typing (DHT). Our results clearly demonstrate th at when U373 cells are cultured with E2, this steroid can modify the e xpression of WGA binding, whereas U87 cells were unaffected. similarly , lowering the FCS level enhanced the WGA binding of the U373 cell lin e. Multidrug-resistant cell variants were associated with both aneuplo idy and a dramatic decrease in cytochemical WGA expression.