SUCROSE-INDUCED VACUOLATION IN LIVING CHINESE HAMSTER FIBROBLASTS

The addition of sucrose (0.08 M) to the culture medium caused vacuolation in Chinese hamster fibroblasts. The vacuoles were formed by pinocytosis rather than swelling of the lysosomes; the extreme vacuolation exhibited by cells after some hours was due more to the fibroblasts' inability to digest the sucrose in the vacuoles than to stimulation of ingestion. The vacuolated cells were able to continue dividing; single isolated cells that had been in sucrose-containing medium for 28 h grew into large colonies after transfer to normal medium. © 1968.