The effects of laminin on the growth and differentiation of embryonal carcinoma cells in defined media.

In this paper we have examined the growth and differentiation of the embryonal carcinoma cell line, F9, in the defined medium EM-3 at low density. We show that the growth of F9 and their differentiated cells (F9-diff) in EM-3 is strongly density dependent. At low cell densities the growth of both cell types is severely limited and most of the cells do not survive. Although this poses a problem for working with F9 and F9-diff in EM-3, it provides a convenient assay for identifying molecules that support their growth at low density. Using this assay, we have determined that laminin, a newly isolated glycoprotein of basement membranes, significantly improves the growth and short-term survival of both F9 and F9-diff. However, addition of laminin to EM-3 is insufficient to promote the clonal growth of these cell types. Our findings also indicate that laminin promotes the attachment of F9 and F9-diff in defined media. On the basis of our results, we propose an attachment function for laminin during the early stages of mammalian development.