Casein accumulation in distended rough endoplasmic reticulum of collagen gel-cultivated mouse mammary epithelia

Tissue Fabrication: Reconstitution and Remodeling in Vitro

Two approaches to the reconstitution of tissues and organs are reviewed. The first consists of imitating the architecture of actual tissues and organs by combining cultured specialized cells with extracellular matrix components to produce a connective tissue substrate on or in which epithelial, mesothelial or endothelial cells can be plated or seeded and subsequently differentiate into mono or multilayered tissues and other structures. The second consists of providing an acellular framework of extracellular matrix constituents that can be occupied by adjacent host tissues after implantation in vivo and be remodeled by them to resemble the host tissues it is designed to replace. A paradigm for events in vivo, designed to study the process of remodeling of acellular matrices in vitro has been developed. The living skin equivalent (LSE), an example of a product fabricated using the first approach to tissue engineering, has been adapted to study events of extracellular matrix remodeling, relevent to the second approach to tissue engineering. After creating a disc shaped wound bed in an LSE, the wound is filled with a collagen matrix with or without added supplements and the process of epidermal wound closure and associated events in the dermis are followed. It is shown that fibroblast conditioned medium or a simple molecule such as ascorbic acid, added with no additional growth factors to the collagen matrix used to fill the wound bed, strongly stimulates the process of repair. Dermal fibroblasts from the adjacent tissue invade the collagen lattice that forms in the wound bed, and keratinocytes recruited from the wound edge overgrow the new dermal tissue. The applicability of the paradigm to the repair of vascular and other tissues will be discussed and approaches to optimizing the composition of acellular constructs considered.

Hydrocortisone and progesterone regulation of the proliferation, morphogenesis, and functional differentiation of normal rat mammary epithelial cells in three dimensional primary culture

The mechanisms of action of, and resistance to, the steroidal regulators of normal mammary epithelial and breast cancer cell development are only partially understood. A major obstacle to research progress has been the difficulty in supporting physiologically relevant development of normal mammary epithelial cells (MEC) under defined serum-free conditions. A primary culture system was developed in our laboratory that permits nonfunctional rat MEC to undergo extensive proliferation, functional differentiation, as well as multilobular and lobuloductal branching alveolar morphogenesis. In the studies reported here, the contributions of hydrocortisone and progesterone during the coordinate induction of cellular proliferation, organoid morphogenesis, and functional capacity were assessed. Hydrocortisone (0.1-10 microgram/ml) induced alveolar and multilobular branching morphogenesis, suppressed lobuloductal branching morphogenesis, and enhanced casein accumulation. Hydrocortisone also played a role in maintaining alveolar as well as multilobular branching morphogenesis and casein levels. Progesterone (0.01-1 microgram/ml) induced cellular proliferation as well as multilobular and lobuloductal branching morphogenesis, and suppressed casein accumulation. At a supraphysiological concentration (10 micrograms/ml), progesterone inhibited cell growth, alveolar branching morphogenesis, and casein accumulation. MEC cultured without progesterone for up to 1 week retained the ability to respond when subsequently exposed to this steroid. Reversibility studies suggested that progesterone was required for the induction, but not the maintenance of the mitogenic, morphogenic, and lactogenic effects. This physiologically relevant primary culture system can be used to study the factors that regulate steroid responsiveness as well as the cross-talk between steroid and growth factor receptor signaling pathways in normal MEC and breast cancer cells.

Establishment and characterization of bovine mammary epithelial cell lines

One bovine mammary epithelial cell clone, designated PS-BME-Cl, and two bovine mammary epithelial cell lines, designated PS-BME-L6 and PS-BME-L7, were derived from mammary tissue of a pregnant (270 day) Holstein cow. The cells exhibit the distinctive morphologic characteristics of mammary epithelial cells and express the milk fat globule membrane protein, PAS-III. They form domes when cultured on plastic substrata and acinilike aggregates when cultured on a collagen matrix. These cells are capable of synthesizing and secreting alpha-lactalbumin and alpha-s1-casein when cultured on a collagen matrix in the presence of insulin, cortisol, and prolactin. The cells have a near-normal diploid number and do not grow in suspension culture. When transplanted to the cleared mammary fat pads of female athymic nude mice, the cells readily proliferate forming noninvasive palpable spherical cellular masses within 8 wk after inoculation. The cells may become a useful tool to study the regulation of ruminant mammary epithelial cell growth and differentiation.