Effects of fructose on human fibroblast metabolism: the application of DNA measurements as a basis for interpretation.

A fluorometric procedure for measuring DNA was used to study growth and metabolic responses of eight cell strains of human foreskin fibroblasts. In preliminary studies this procedure gave more precise specific activity changes in N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) than did a protein activity basis, when changes in this enzyme's specific activity were investigated as a function of experimental cell manipulation. When fibroblast growth in eight cell strains was compared in 134 mM D-fructose vs. 13.4 mM glucose-supplemented minimum essential media, a significant increase in cellular DNA (50%) and protein (45%) occurred over an 11-d period. No significant differences in media pH change, lactate production, or carbohydrate uptake occurred on a DNA basis when cell metabolism was compared over the last 24 h of culture in the two media. Cells grown in fructose-containing media tended to show a reduction in NAG specific activity when compared with those grown in glucose-containing media.