Constitution, viability, and lactate dehydrogenase in stationary-phase L-cell suspension cultures.

Starved suspension cultures of L cells exhibit a plateau phase of short duration followed by loss of key cellular constituents and rapidly decreasing viability. In contrast, regularly fed,. undiluted cultures remain stationary at a high cell density for prolonged periods without structural alterations or loss of viability. The L cells contain a single lactate dehydrogenase isozyme with an electrophoretic mobility similar to that of lactate-dehydrogenase-5. High-density stationary cultures show a tenfold increase of the specific activity of this enzyme and a recurrent biphasic pattern of carbohydrate utilization with, first, production and, later, consumption of lactate.