The Establishment of Tetraploid Human Embryonic Cells Using Demecolcine

Diploid human embryonic cells were exposed to demecolcine for 3 d and then released from this exposure. At that time, the cell population was a mixture of diploid and tetraploid cells. Tetraploid cells were obtained through the cloning of this mixture of cells. The doubling time of the tetraploid cells was 16 h, identical to that of the diploid cells. The tetraploid cells had 92 chromosomes and double the DNA content of the parent diploid cells. The cell volume of the tetraploid cells was about twice that of the diploid cells. The duration of the G1, S, and G2/M phases was almost the same as for diploid cells. It was concluded that the established tetraploid human embryonic cells have cellular characteristics similar to those of diploid human embryonic cells.