Quantitative description of morphologic changes effected by antileukemic agents in L1210 leukemia cells.

The effect of antileukemic agents is explained mainly by the inhibition of DNA synthesis, which may reflect the structural alteration of the target cells. To identify such cellular alterations, in particular morphologic changes associated with the exposure to antileukemic agents were investigated in the murine leukemic L1210 cell line using flow cytometry and image analysis. Cells were cultured with eight kinds of antileukemic agents in cytostatic concentrations which are clinically achievable. Living cells were observed in culture without fixation or staining. Two parameters related to cell size and shape were measured simultaneously by the image analysing computer. These parameters provided us with different criteria for characterizing the antimetabolites, DNA-strand-damage inducers and other agents tested. Such morphologic studies may make it possible to estimate the characteristics of various antileukemic agents.