The accumulation of H-1 MR-visible lipid in human glioma cells is independent of the cell cycle.

The human glioma cell line, 2607, was observed with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in the presence of a number of cell-cycle blockers (cysteamine, desferrioxamine, ADR 529). MR spectra of the arrested cells revealed a correlation between the intensity of the lipid methylene resonance at 1.3 ppm and the percentage of cells in G(2)/M. However, subsequent time course studies using ADR 529 on cells partially synchronised by contact inhibition showed that the emergence of the lipid signal in drug-treated cells is not strictly cell cycle dependent but increases with continuing exposure to ADR 529. This indicates that the accumulation of MR-visible lipid arises from drug cell interactions that specifically affect lipid metabolism in a non cell cycle dependent manner.