The Ultrastructure of Neuroblastoma Glioma Somatic Cell Hybrids

A current approach to the investigation of the biochemical basis for neuronal function is the development, from neuroblastoma tumors, of clonal cell lines which grow rapidly in cell culture but which retain the ability to express one or more characteristics of differentiated neurons. These characteristics may be morphological (1-3), biochemical (1, 4), or physiological (5-8). Recently, it has been shown that cells of some clonal lines derived by somatic cell hybridization between neuroblastoma cell lines and L cells are capable of stable expression of neuronal characteristics (9, 10) and that the cells of some of these hybrid lines can express certain neuronal characteristics to a greater degree than the neuroblastoma parent ceils (9, 10). The present report deals with two clonal lines derived by somatic cell hybridization between neuroblastoma and glioma cell lines ~. The cells of these hybrid lines are induced to differentiate by Ne, O 2' dibutyryl adenosine 3',5' cyclic monophosphate (dBcAMP). The differentiated cells are neuronal in light microscope appearance ~, have membranes of high electrical activity, capable of generating action poten-