Amino Acid Requirements of the Novikoff Hepatoma in vitro.

Summary

Novikoff hepatoma requires 12 amino acids and glutamine for growth in vitro. When both glycine and serine were deleted from the medium, no growth occurred. In presence of serine some growth was apparent, but glycine was more effective in stimulating tumor cell proliferation. Glutamic acid and sodium thioglycolate could partially spare glutamine and cysteine requirements, respectively, and several sulfur-containing inorganic salts could partially replace cysteine. Arginine could be replaced by citrulline but ornithine was not active. When arginine was deleted, the typically rounded cell of Novikoff hepatoma was no longer apparent; but a predominance of fibroblasts remained attached to the surface of the flasks.