Effects of gadolinium ions upon rat prostatic cancer cell lines of markedly different metastatic potential

The effects of gadolinium chloride, a non-specific blocker of mechanosensitive ion channels (MSICs), upon the motility and proliferation of two Dunning rat prostatic tumour cell lines of markedly different metastatic potential were investigated. Gadolinium (2-10 microM) caused a dose-dependent increase in the distance moved in 'wound' assays over a 48-h testing period. The highly metastatic MAT-LyLu cell line was significantly more sensitive to Gd3+, the weakly metastatic AT-2 cells responding only at the highest concentration (10 microM) used. There was no effect on the cells' proliferative rates. These data suggest that mechanosensitive channels could play a role in metastasis by modulating cell migration.