Quenching of anionic free radicals by normal and transformed cells: A probe of phenotypic changes

The ability of three cultured cell lines (NRK, 6M2, and 54-5A4) derived from rat kidney to quench a population of ascorbyl and 2,6-dimethoxy-p-semiquinone free radicals has been investigated by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The radical scavenging action of normal rat kidney (NRK) cells was the weakest, that of 6M2 cells (reversibly transformed phenotype) was four times stronger than NRK, and that of 54-5A4 cells (irreversibly transformed mutants of 6M2) was 10 times greater than NRK. Free radical quenching experiments were also performed on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. A much slower scavenging rate was observed for CHO cells of normal phenotype grown in the presence of dibutyryl cyclic AMP than was found for cells of transformed phenotype grown in its absence. The free radical quenching kinetics of the various cell lines studied directly paralleled their state of transformation.