Effects of hexosamines and their acetyl derivatives on aggregation of rat hepatoma cells in rotation culture.

The effects of hexosamines and their acetyl derivatives on the aggregation of 4-dimethylaminoazobenzene-induced rat hepatoma cells, dRLa-74 and dRLh-84, which have a low and high tumor-producing activity, respectively, were examined in rotation-mediated cell culture. D-Glucosamine, D-galactosamine, and D-mannosamine had relatively little effect on aggregation of either strain of hepatoma cells at concentrations lower than 3 mM. At concentrations higher than 10 mM, some differential inhibi tory effects on the aggregation of the two hepatoma cell lines were observed. D-Glucosamine and D-galactosamine were more effective against the aggregation of dRLh-84 cells than in that of dRLa-74 cells, and the reverse was the case with D-mannosamine. TV-Acetyl-D-glucosamine, TV-acetyl-D-galactosamine, and 7Vacetyl-D-mannosamine were relatively ineffective against the aggregation of dRLa-74 cells at all concentrations used. ./V-Acetyl-D-glucosamine had an inhibitory effect on the aggregation of dRLh-84 cells only at a concentration of 30 mM, while N-acetyl-D-galactosamine had a pronounced in hibitory effect at both 10 and 30 mM.