Alterations in chloride transport during differentiation of Friend virus-transformed cells

Friend erythroleukemic cells can be induced by a variety of agents to synthesize hemoglobin and to exhibit other characteristics suggesting erythroid maturation. Upon induction of hemoglobin synthesis with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), the chloride flux in Friend cells gradually increases, until after five days of exposure to DMSO (when the hemoglobin content of the cells approaches that of the mature erythrocyte) the flux is three times the value in non-induced cells. A similar flux increase is observed in the presence of a different type of inducer, hypoxanthine, but no increase in flux is seen in the mutant cell line, TG-13, which does not synthesize hemoglobin after DMSO treatment. Thus, the flux increase seems to be associate d with the induction process, rather than being a direct effect of the inducing agent. After DMSO treatment, the sulphate flux decreases and the chloride/sulphate selectivity increases, aswould be expected if the cells were becoming more like red cells. On the other hand, the sensitivity of the chloride flux to the inhibitor, furosemide, and to temperature is the same in the induced as in the non-induced Friend cells, and different from that of the mature red cell. Thus, the anion transport properties of the induced Friend cell are different from those of both the non-induced Friend cell and the mature erythrocyte. Either the system in the induced cell represents an intermediate stage in the development of the mature red cell characteristics, or else the maturation of transport function in the Friend cell differs from that in normal erythrocyte precursors.