Nature 218, 583 - 584 (11 May 1968); doi:10.1038/218583a0

Influence of Dimethyl Sulphoxide on Glycine Transport in Sarcoma-180 Tumour Cells

RONALD F. HAGEMANN & TITUS C. EVANS

Radiation Research Laboratory, College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.

DIMETHYL sulphoxide (DMSO) inhibits a number of biosynthetic processes; growth of fibroblasts¹ and bacteria², DNA synthesis in sarcoma-180 tumour cells³, thyroidal transport and organification of iodine (our unpublished observations), and protein systhesis^4,5 are all inhibited by sufficiently high concentrations of this compound in vitro. The activity of a number of enzymes⁶ is also reduced in similar concentrations of DMSO. An interesting fact is that these inhibitory effects of DMSO are reversible—they can be overcome by a sufficient reduction in the DMSO concentration, for example, by "washing" the tissue, cells or enzyme in physiological saline. The mechanism of DMSO inhibition, which is unknown, may involve non-specific enzyme inhibition, although the activity of some enzymes is increased in DMSO⁶.

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