Effects of arginine deprivation, ultraviolet radiation, and x-radiation on cultured KB cells. A cytochemical and ultrastructural study.

CULTURED KB CELLS (DERIVED FROM A HUMAN ORAL CARCINOMA) GROWN IN MONOLAYERS WERE INJURED BY ONE OF THREE AGENTS: starvation by arginine deprivation or treatment with high doses of either ultraviolet radiation or x-radiation. The different agents produced changes in nucleolar structure and varying accumulations of triglyceride and glycogen. All three agents produced an increase in number and size of lysosomes. These were studied in acid phosphatase preparations, viewed by both light and electron microscopy, and, occasionally, in vital dye, esterase, and aryl sulfatase preparations. Ultrastructurally, alterations in lysosomes suggested that "residual bodies" developed in a variety of ways, i.e., from the endoplasmic reticulum, multivesicular bodies, or autophagic vacuoles. Following all three agents the endoplasmic reticulum assumed the form of "rough" or "smooth" whorls, and, after two of the agents, arginine deprivation or ultraviolet radiation, it acquired cytochemically demonstrable acid phosphatase activity. Near connections between the endoplasmic reticulum and lysosomes raise the possibility that in KB cells, at least when injured, the endoplasmic reticulum is involved in the formation of lysosomes and the transport of acid phosphatase to them.