Biochemical characteristics of human and nonhuman primate diploid cell lines.

Abstract Biochemical studies of one rhesus (DBS-FRhL-2) and two human (WI-38 and MRC-5) embryonic lung diploid cell lines were carried out. The electrophoretic profiles in starch gel of selected enzymes readily distinguished between monkey and human cells but not between the two human cell lines. Effects of nutritional state, cell growth phase, culture ageing and cell senescence were investigated with each of the cell lines with respect to: glucose metabolism, selected enzyme activities (hexokinase, P-glucomutase, P-glucose isomerase, glucose-6-P dehydrogenase and adenylate kinase) and nucleic acid content. Reverse transcriptase activity was analysed for each of the cell lines, and no evidence was found for production of type-C or Mason-Pfizer-like viruses at early or late passages.