Fructose-induced enhanced mitogenicity of diploid human cells: possible relationship with cell differentiation

Fructose strongly stimulates the growth of normal diploid human skin fibroblasts (SFs) and induces marked changes in their morphology and lipid accumulation. This mitogenic effect occurs despite very low fructose consumption and depends on the presence of glutamine. The cell kinetics of cultured fructose-fed human skin fibroblasts were different from those fed on glucose: in the presence of fructose a high proliferative index persisted at Day 14 of culture and the duration of the total cell cycle and of the G1 + 1/2 M and S phases was slightly shorter. The mitogenic effect of fructose on SF was largest in the presence of human serum: it was small or undetectable when fibroblasts were cultured in media supplemented with dialyzed human serum, fetal bovine serum, or serum substitutes. This suggests that serum growth factor(s) mediate the mitogenic effect of fructose. Only normal diploid human cells seem to be sensitive to this mitogenic effect of fructose: the long-term growth of normal human liver cells on fructose was slightly better or similar to that on glucose. In contrast, fructose could only support limited growth of hamster fibroblastic Nil cells and of a transformed human fibroblastic line, which grew better with glucose.