Effects of caffeine treatment alone and in combination with gamma exposure on cultured peanut cells

Abstract

Cell growth, mitotic index, and peroxidase activity were measured, and radioimmunoassay with [35S]methionine for peroxidase synthesis was carried out on peanut suspension cells treated with 10−5 M caffeine with or without 50 kR gamma exposure. Decreases in the amount of peroxidase in the medium from caffeine treatment were thought to be induced by events causing simultaneous mitotic reduction and degradation of peroxidase by gamma exposure. However, the data based on a comparison of the rate of total protein and of peroxidase synthesis suggest that caffeine treatment induces quantitative and qualitative changes in the rate of peroxidase synthesis. The data on qualitative differences were obtained from peroxidase extraction without or with high ionic strength buffer.