Changes of gene expression during long term adaptation of human EUE cells to a hypertonic medium: electrophoretic protein patterns and DNase I digestion in situ.

The effects of long term (1 to 10 days) growth in a hypertonic medium have been studied in human EUE cells. Following polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, a change in the protein pattern has been found, with the progressive enhancement, during adaptation, of a 33 kDa band. Experiments of DNA digestion in situ by DNase I showed that chromatin DNA of cells grown in a hypertonic medium is more available to the enzyme cleavage. These findings show that long term hypertonic stress is able to induce a change in gene expression in EUE cells.