Flow cytofluorometry of lysosomal acridine orange uptake by living cultured cells. Effect of trypsinization and starvation.

The uptake of the fluorescent, lysosomotropic weak base acridine orange (AO) by living cells in culture was studied by flow cytofluorometry. A mouse myeloma cell line (SP 2/0), growing in suspension, and an anchorage-dependent human malignant glioma cell line (U-251 MG), brought into suspension by trypsinization, were used. The consequences of trypsinization were also studied using static cytofluorometry. The lysosomal accumulation of AO by myeloma cells growing in suspension was found to be only moderately affected by starvation (i.e. incubation without medium change) for a period of up to five days. Trypsinization of the glioma cells after staining with AO caused pronounced release of the fluorescent dye while trypsinization before staining with AO did not significantly change the average lysosomal concentration of AO. We did, however, notice certain side effects of trypsinization in the form of both increased cellular green fluorescence and greater intercellular variability that reduce the validity of data obtained from cells detached by routine trypsinization. In conclusion, the condition of the lysosomal vacuome of living cultured cells growing in suspension may be studied by flow cytofluorometry after vital staining with the lysosomotropic weak base AO. Anchorage-dependent trypsinized cells, however, yield unsatisfactory results when examined in a flow cytofluorometer system and are better studied while still attached to their substratum, using static cytofluorometry.