Characterization of variants isolated from BCNU-treated 9L multicellular spheroids

Multicellular spheroids of the 9L rat brain tumor cell line were treated with a single high-dose to produce cells of varying sensitivity. Treatment of 350-450 μm diameter 9L spheroids with 45 μM BCNU for 1 hr at 370C produced 5 log cell kill. Some of the treated spheroids were dissociated immediately after treatment; others were dissociated after 1 wk. From these populations, twenty clones were selected and passaged as monolayers. Each clone was assayed at passage 2 for BCNU-induced damage using colony forming efficiency and sister chromatid exchange. 60% of the clones were resistant to BCNU, 15% were unchanged, and 15% appeared hypersensitive as compared with the control, which were uncloned 9L cells. All of the hypersensitive clones originated from the spheroids that remained in suspension after treatment. Three clones were studied during subsequent passage in monolayer. Two resistant clones maintained their resistance to BCNU over -- 25 passages, while one hypersensitive clone appeared to become progressively more resistant during passage. Thus, as with monolayer and in vivo 9L cells, a single high-dose treatment with BCNU produces a spectrum of sensitivities to BCNU. Some of these phenotypes are stable over many passages and have been used to initiate 9L spheroids having varying sensitivity to BCNU. These spheroids will be used to investigate drug-radiation interactions