Hamster Chinese lung male. Established after spontaneous transformation of cells isolated from the lung of a normal Chinese hamster （male）. The G1 phase in these cells is either absent or very short. Consequently they have been used in studies of the G1 growth period. V79 is well established in toxicology studies. Stability of karyotype and morphology is making them suitable for gene toxicity assays with low background aberrations. The cells do not express endogenous cytochrome P450 and have been used for the insertion and expression of P450 from human, rat, mouse and fish.
