1H MRS studies of signals from mobile lipids and from lipid metabolites: comparison of the behavior in cultured tumor cells and in spheroids

H-1 magnetic resonance studies on MCF-7 and HeLa cells were undertaken to reveal differences in lipid and lipid metabolite signals during the growth in culture. High intensity mobile lipid (ML) signals were found during the first days in culture, while afterwards the same signals declined and started increasing again at confluence and at late confluence. At the same time, signals from the lipid metabolite phosphocholine decreased in intensity while signals from glycerophosphocholine in MCF-7 and from choline in HeLa increased as cells approached confluence. Spectral parameters from actively proliferating and non-proliferating cells were used to classify cells with respect to the proliferative conditions by means of a multivariate statistical analysis. Furthermore, it was shown that polyunsaturation of mobile lipid chains was lower in the confluent group with respect to the actively proliferating cells. The examination of spectra from suspensions of MCF-7 spheroids with diameter smaller than 500 mum suggests that cells in spheroids are in condition of lipid metabolism similar to that of confluent cultured cells.