Cystine accumulation and clearance in normal and cystinotic fibroblasts exposed to cystine dimethyl ester.

Exposure of cultured skin fibroblasts of normals and cystinotic patients to 0.5 mmol/l[35S]cystine dimethyl ester for 30 min resulted in an accumulation of cystine in excess to that naturally occurring in cystinotic skin fibroblasts. These equal levels of cystine accumulation achieved in both cystinotic and normal cells, permitted comparative experiments to look for differences in cystine disposal between normal and cystinotic cells. Cystinotic fibroblasts demonstrated very low cystine clearance with a lower ratio of cysteine-N-ethylmaleimide to cystine than normal. The results on cystinotic fibroblasts are consistent with those observed in leucocytes, suggesting that fibroblasts can be useful in further studies to elucidate the clearance defect of cystine in cystinosis as well as its potential in antenatal diagnosis.