The Determination of transformation development of cells by molecular techniques

ABSTRACT Doctor of Science Thesis THE DETERMINATION OF TRANSFORMATION DEVELOPMENT OF CELLS BY MOLECULAR TECHNIQUES AYŞE TANSU KOPARAL Anadolu University Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Biology Program Supervisor: Assist.Prof.Dr. Melih ZEYTİNO?LU 2001, 103 pages This study comprises experimental works undertaken in vivo and in vitro environment. As in vivo study, carvacrol was injected to rats that show cancer after DMBA treatment. Lungs of laboratory animals both cancerous and carvacrol injected were examined using macroscopic and microscopic (histological) studies. These studies showed that in lungs, cell transformation occurred with DMBA and number of type II lung cells increased in alveoli. It was determined that after cancer induction, application of carvacrol affected transformed lung cells positively. In vitro studies were achieved by using A549, HFL1, C2 and C025 cell lines and tissue culture methods. These studies compare N-Ras oncogene transformed muscle cells and cancerous lung cells, and also use different techniques to show effects of carvacrol on cell transformation; cell number, cell morphology, cytoskeleton and total protein amount in cell types that are used in the experiments. In carvacrol applied A549 and HFL1 cell types, increase in dose of carvacrol caused a decrease in cell number, degeneration of cell morphology and cytoskeleton and a decrease in total protein amount. Key Words: Cell transformation, cell morphology, cytoskeleton, carvacrol, type II lung cells.