Histochemical demonstration of an increase in acetylcholinesterase in established lines of human and mouse neuroblastomas by nerve growth factor.

Cells of three established lines of human neuroblastoma and an established line of C1300 mouse neuroblastoma were grown in control medium or in experimental medium containing mouse nerve growth factor (NGF). Cultures were stained histochemically for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) during log growth and at confluency. Human neuroblastoma cells grown in medium containing NGF were morphologically more differentiated and they were stained much more intensely for AChE during both phases of growth than were cells in control cultures. The enzyme was distributed over cell bodies and neurites. Neuroblastoma cells of the mouse line were not stimulated to form neurites by NGF, but they were more intensely stained for acetylcholinesterase than cells grown in control medium. These observations support earlier findings that NGF stimulates differentiation of human and mouse neuroblastoma cells in vitro.