Effects of carbon monoxide on cardiac muscle cells in culture

Embryonic rat cardiac muscle cells grown in the presence of various tensions of CO (5-95%) without the presence of O2 survived and exhibited reduced cell growth, which was concentration dependent. When cardiac muscle cells were grown in the presence of a mixture of CO (10-20%) and O2 (10-20%), the growth rate of these cells was comparable to that of the control cells. Cardiac myocytes continued to beat when exposed to varying tensions of CO, except in the case of 95% CO. The cells exposed to different concentrations of CO contained fewer myofibrils of different stages of differentiation compared with the control and the culture exposed to a mixture of 20% O2 and 20% CO, with cells that contained abundant, highly differentiated myofibrils. There was no significant difference in the structural organization of mitochondria between the control and the surviving experimental cells. It is evident from the present studies that O2 is required for the optimum in vitro cellular growth of cardiac muscle. Furthermore, CO in combination with O2 at a concentration of 10 or 20% can produce optimal growth of cardiac muscle cells in culture.