A chemically defined medium for the propagation of rat prostate adenocarcinoma cells

A chemically defined medium (MB-DF) has been developed for the propagation of the rat prostate adenocarcinoma cell line (PA-III). The medium (MB-DF) was supplemented with fetuin, insulin, transferrin, dexamethasone, and 5 alpha - dihydrotestosterone, but require no serum supplement. The adapted line, PA-IIIf, has been grown in this serum-free medium for 30 passages over a period of 12 months without losing the malignant or other characteristics of the parent line. When transplanted into syngeneic rats, the PA-IIIf cells reconstituted the adenocarcinoma and metastasized spontaneously via ipsilateral lymphatic channels to the lungs. This cell line will be of use in further analyses of enzymes associated with biological properties of the tumor cells.