Potassium: effect on DNA synthesis and multiplication of baby-hamster kidney cells: (cell cycle-membrane...

The relations between DNA synthesis, cell multiplication, and external potassium concentration have been investigated in cultured baby-hamster kidney cells. When the potassium concentration was raised from 8 mM to 114 mM by equimolar replacement of sodium, DNA synthesis and cell multiplication were almost completely inhibited. This inhibition was reversible even after 72 hr of incubation in medium with a high concentration of potassium. There is a consistent difference between the cultured cells and polyoma virus-transformed cells in response to high-potassium medium, a higher-potassium concentration being required to inhibit multiplication of polyoma virus-transformed cells to the same extent as that of the nontransformed cells.