Heterogeneous response to differentiation induction with different polar compounds in a clonal rat rhabdomyosarcoma cell line (BA-HAN-1C)

The clonal rat rhabdomyosarcoma cell line BA-HAN-1C was tested for its susceptibility to differentiation induction with different polar compounds. This cell line is composed of proliferating mononuclear tumour cells, some of which spontaneously fuse to form terminally differentiated postmitotic myotube-like giant cells. Exposure of BA-HAN-1C cells to dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO), hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA), sodium butyrate (NaBut) and N-monomethylformamide (NMF) resulted in a significant inhibition of proliferation (P less than 0.001) and in a simultaneous increase in differentiation. The response was most pronounced after exposure to NMF as evidenced by a marked increase in the creatin…