Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun. 2003, 68, 2190-2200
https://doi.org/10.1135/cccc20032190

24-Epibrassinolide at Subnanomolar Concentrations Modulates Growth and Production Characteristics of a Mouse Hybridoma

František Franěka,*, Tomáš Eckschlagerb and Ladislav Kohoutc

a Laboratory of Growth Regulators, Institute of Experimental Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Radiová 1, 102 27 Prague 10, Czech Republic
b Department of Pediatric Oncology, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, V Úvalu 84, 150 06 Prague 5, Czech Republic
c Department of Steroid Chemistry, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Flemingovo nám. 2, 166 10 Prague 6, Czech Republic

Abstract

Brassinosteroids are known to stimulate plant growth and to possess antistress activities in plants. This work was aimed at exploring possible beneficial effects of 24-epibrassinolide on cultured mammalian cells. A mouse hybridoma was cultured either in standard serum-free medium, or in medium diluted to 30%, in which the cells underwent nutritional stress. Steady-state parameters of semicontinuous cultures conducted at 24-epibrassinolide concentrations from 10-16 to 10-9 mol l-1 were evaluated. Typical effects of the agent found both in standard and in diluted media were (i) increase in the value of mitochondrial membrane potential, (ii), drop of intracellular antibody level, (iii) increase in the fraction of the cells in the G0/G1 phase, and (iv) decrease in the fraction of the cells in the S phase. Alleviation of nutritional stress manifested itself in cultures conducted in diluted media. Viable cell density was significantly higher (relative to control) at 24-epibrassinolide concentrations 10-13 and 10-12 mol l-1. The results of this exploratory study show that the plant hormone 24-epibrassinolide may induce perturbations in the cell division mechanism, in mitochondria performance, and in secreted protein synthesis in a mammalian cell line. At the lowest brassinosteroid concentrations, the number of steroid molecules in the culture was of the same order of magnitude as the number of viable cells in the culture. This implies involvement of a complex cascade mechanism, through which the steroid molecule induces alterations in gene expression leading finally to significant changes in cell culture parameters.

Keywords: Steroids; Brassinosteroids; 24-Epibrassinolides; Hybridoma cells; Mitochondrial membrane potential; Cell cycle; Monoclonal antibodies; Plant growth regulators.

References: 26 live references.