The effect of pH on potentially lethal damage recovery in A549 cells

The radiation sensitivity and potentially lethal damage recovery (PLDR) capacity of A549 human lung carcinoma cells have been studied. For unfed monolayer cultures, radiation sensitivity was greater in plateau phase than in log phase of growth. PLDR was observed when plateau-phase cells were held in their own spent medium postirradiation, such that the dose-response curve with 24 h holding was similar to that for log-phase cells plated immediately after irradiation. The high PLDR capacity of A549 plateau-phase cells (recovery factor between 40 and 70 for 24 h holding after 10 Gy) was reduced 10-fold or more by alkalinizing the pH of the spent medium immediately after irradiation from a value of 6.5 +/- 0.1 to a value of 7.6. Medium alkalinization resulted in an increase in the rate of glycolysis, with subsequent reacidification to a pH of 7.3 within 2 h of the pH adjustment. No change in cell cycle distribution was observed in the plateau-phase cultures up to 32 h after change of medium pH, and no increase in cell density was found after 48 h. A slight increase in the rate of incorporation of radiolabeled thymidine into acid-precipitable material was observed at 4 and 24 h after alkalinization of the medium. While it is not possible at present to define a mechanism for this pH effect, our results demonstrate that, at least for this cell line, variables such as medium pH and glucose concentration can profoundly influence the observation of PLDR.