Authors : C.J. Li and T.H. Elsasser
Abstract: We investigated the property of the cell cycle arrest induced by butyrate and compared cell synchronization induced by butyrate, serum deprivation and the combination of serum deprivation and aphidicolin. The site of growth inhibition and cell cycle arrest was studied by BrdU incorporation and flow cytometry analyses. By combining BrdU incorporation and DNA content analysis, not only can the overlapping between different cell populations be eliminated, but also the frequency and nature of individual cells that have synthesized DNA can be determined. Exposure of MDBK cells to 10 mM butyrate caused inhibition of growth and cell cycle arrest in a reversible manner. Evidence is presented that butyrate affected the cell cycle at a specific point immediately after mitosis and at a very early stage of the G1 phase. After release from butyrate arrest, MDBK cells underwent synchronous cycles of DNA synthesis and transited through the S phase. The results showed that most serum deprivation treated cells were arrested at the G1 phase and aphidicolin treated cells were arrested at the early S phase. The effects of the three treatments were reversible. Using butyrate-synchronized cells, we determined that it takes about 8 h for G1 synchronized cells, induced by butyrate, to progress into the S phase and 8 h for the completion of the S phase. One cycle of cell division for MDBK cells is about 20 h.
C.J. Li and T.H. Elsasser , 2006. Specific Cell Cycle Synchronization with Butyrate and Cell Cycle Analysis by Flow Cytometry for Madin Darby Bovine Kidney (MDBK) Cell Line. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 5: 916-923.