Correlation of Changes of CHO–K1 Cells Metabolism to Changes in Protein Expression in cAMP Differentiation

A correlated investigation of cell metabolism and protein expression of Chinese Hamster Ovary cells (CHO-K1) under different growth conditions was performed by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), mass spectrometry (MS) and biochemical assays. CHO fibroblasts have shown different metabolic products when grown in different media and when differentiation is stimulated by adenosine 3’, 5’ cyclic monophosphate (cAMP). In particular, while addition of Fetal Calf Serum causes an increase in the glucose metabolism correlated to changes in lipid composition of the membrane observed by 1H-NMR, differentiation induced by cAMP causes biochemical differences in glucose and lipidic metabolism uniquely correlated both to the specific changes in the composition of nuclear proteins, revealed by mass spectrometry, and to the differences in metabolism, determined by NMR.