Antioxidants in neoplastic cells: I. Changes in the antioxidative capacity of mouse neuroblastoma cells measured by a single-phase assay.

Cultured mouse neuroblastoma cells exhibit a striking increase in antioxidative capacity during the transition from logarithmically dividing cells to nondividing, neurite-bearing cells. Two physically separable phenomena are involved: (a) the membrane pellet of neurite-bearing cells is highly resistant to lipid peroxidation, and (b) the postmicrosomal supernatant of these cells inhibits peroxidation in rat liver mitochondria and other biological membranes. A precise, single-phase assay has been developed for assessing antioxidant levels in lipid extracts. By means of this assay, the increase in membrane resistance to lipid peroxidation has been correlated with a threefold increase in the antioxidant activity of the neuroblastoma neutral lipid fraction. This finding implies that generations of a neutral lipid antioxidant (or antioxidants) is involved in the profound increase in antioxidative capacity which occurs in differentiating neuroblastoma cells.