RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DNA-PLOIDY LEVEL AND TUMOR SOCIOLOGY BEHAVIOR IN12 NERVOUS CELL-LINES

Cell population sociology was studied in two medulloblastomas and 10 a strocytic human tumor cell Lines by means of the characterization of t he structure of neoplastic cell colonies growing on histological slide s, This was carried out via digital cell image analysis of Feulgen-sta ined nuclei, to which the Delaunay triangulation and Voronoi paving ma thematical techniques were applied, Such assessments were compared to the DNA ploidy level (assessed by means of DNA histogram typing), The results show that the cell colony architecture characteristics differe d markedly according to whether the cell Lines were euploid (diploid o r tetraploid) or aneuploid (hyperdiploid, triploid, hypertriploid, or polymorphic), In fact, the cell colonies from the euploid cell nuclei populations were larger and more dense than those from the aneuploid o nes. Furthermore, for an identical period of culture, the cell lines f rom high-grade malignant astrocytic tumors (glioblastomas) exhibited c ell colonies that were larger and more dense than those in cell Lines from low-grade astrocytic tumors (astrocytomas), In each of these two groups, the diploid cell nuclei populations exhibited cell colonies la rger and more dense than the nondiploid colonies, The present methodol ogy is now being applied in vivo to histological sections of surgicall y removed human brain tumors in order to distinguish between high-risk clinical subgroups and medium-risk subgroups in clearly circumscribed histopathological groups. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.