Lactate Metabolism Conducted by Rat C6-glioma in the Cells Culture

In order to investigate the lactate metabolism conducted by rat C6-glioma, the author incubated the C6-glioma cells in culture medium with oxygen and glucose, and measured the daily glucose and lactate concentrations in the cell culture fluid by using an electrode-based analyzer. The cells proliferated by the fourth culture day, saturated at the fifth or sixth days, and then the cell counts started to decrease. They died by the twelfth day. A large amount of the glucose was consumed within the first six culture days, while the lactate was produced during the same time periods in the medium solution having abundant oxygen. The lactate, however, started to be consumed from the seventh day. The author demonstrated in vitro that C6-glioma cells conducted anaerobic glycolysis in the glucose-rich aerobic culture condition, and consumed lactate in a hyperproliferative and low-glucose state, probably by using the glutamine oxidation.