C H A P T E R
1 7
The Effects of Vitamins A and C on Cells and
Tissues in Culture
H O N O R B. F E L L
Strangeways Research Laboratory, Cambridge, England
and L . M . R I N A L D I N I
Instituto de Biologia Celular, Cordoba, Argentina
I. Vitamin A (Honor B. Fell)
659
A. Effects on cell growth
659
B. Vitamin A-deficiency in organ cultures
660
C. Hypervitaminosis A in organ culture
663
D. The Specificity of the action of vitamin A on organ cultures
678
E. Mode of action of vitamin A on organ cultures
678
II. Vitamin C (L. M . Rinaldini)
680
A. Introduction
680
B. Intracellular distribution and site of synthesis in the cell
681
C. Requirements of vitamin G in cultures and its effect on growth
682
D. Effects on cell functions, differentiation and the building of extracellular
materials
686
References
691
I. V I T A M I N A
The vitamin that has been most widely studied by Tissue-Culture
methods is vitamin A . While some studies deal with its effect on cell
growth, by far the greater part of the work concerns its action on
differentiated tissue in organ culture. This is due to the late Sir Edward
Mellanby who thought that the organ-culture technique might shed
light on the cellular mechanism through which this vitamin acted.
Events were to show that his expectation was well founded. The
responses of various types of organ culture to this vitamin have proved
so interesting, that a number of workers have been attracted to the field,
and recent results suggest that a valuable clue to its action at the
cellular level has at last been obtained.
A. EFFECTS ON C E L L G R O W T H
In 1936 Baker (1936a), using purified preparations of the natural