Effect of dibutyryl cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate on morphological features and biological markers of human salivary myoepithelial cell line in culture.

We have found the emergence of myoepithelial cells (HSG-AZA1) in neoplastic human salivary intercalated duct cell line HSG in culture after treatment with 5-azacytidine. When HSG-ZAZ1 cells were cultured in the presence of N6,O2-dibutyryl cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (dB-cAMP), they formed long cytoplasmic processes which were densely packed with ample microfibrils in addition to microtubule bundles. The expression of neuron-specific enolase, synaptophysin, and catecholamine as well as neurofilaments in the treated HSG-AZA1 cells was found by the immunofluorescence staining technique, immunoblotting, immunoelectron microscopy, or catecholamine fluorescence. Both the anchorage-independent and anchorage-dependent growths of HSG-AZA1 cells were suppressed in the presence of dB-cAMP. After the removal of dB-cAMP from the culture, the treated cells returned rapidly to the phenotype and growth rate of the untreated cells. These findings indicate that reversible differentiation into the neuron-like cells of HSG-AZA1 cells occurs in growth medium containing dB-cAMP.