The effects of ammonia on glioblastoma growth and metabolism probed by NMR spectroscopy

Glioblastoma is one of the most lethal and aggressive types of cancer. Despite the rigorous research regarding this malady, there is still no cure, and survival still does not last long-term. Hence, mimicking glioblastoma in vitro as accurately as possible through cell culture is an important aspect of research to generate reliable results. Ammonia concentration on cell culture media is shown to decrease viability, thwart glucose consumption, heighten reactive oxygen species production, change the morphology of cells, etc. In this study, we investigated how different concentrations of ammonium chloride affect two cell lines of glioblastoma: SfxL and U87. We administered 0mM, 5 mM, and 10 mM of ammonium chloride to both cell lines for 48 hrs. Preliminary trials show highly different results between SfxL and U87. After 48 hrs, SFxL cells consumed nearly all glucose; however, the prominent metabolic byproduct was not lactate but acetate, and as the ammonium concentration increased, the lactate peak decreases. Moreover, possible alanine peaks were also observed, and it shows a positive relationship with ammonium concentration. On the contrary, U87 after 48 hrs only have a significant increase in lactate production. These preliminary NMR results will be discussed along with the other supporting data.