A method for enrichment of hybrid somatic cells: complementation studies in certain lysosomal enzymopathies

An improved method, which combined a number of published techniques, is described for the polyethylene-glycol-induced fusion of mononuclear human skin fibroblasts in the presence of phytohaemagglutinin-P and for the subsequent isolation of polynuclear cells by Ficoll gradient sedimentation. Enriched cultures contain between 60 and 75% multinucleated cells and may be maintained in culture without fetal calf serum for up to 14 days without significant overgrowth by the few contaminating mononuclear parental cells. Complementation appears not to occur between GM1 gangliosidosis and mucopolysaccharidosis, type VI B (Morquio) cell strains; this experimental observation provides support for the earlier hypothesis that the mutations for these conditions are allelic. Earlier observations that complementation does not occur between selected phenotypic variants (viz., neuronopathic forms and those without neurological involvement) of sphingomyelin storage (Niemann-Pick) disease or Gaucher's disease are confirmed.