On disturbance of homeostasis in organ-cultured tissue

Isolation and Propagation in Vitro of Peritoneal Mesothelial Cells

Mesothelial cells lining the peritoneal cavity are the primary site of molecular exchange during peritoneal dialysis, a life support system for over 50 000 patients worldwide. In this study, techniques are described for the isolation and propagation in culture of peritoneal mesothelial cells from rats and rabbits. For comparison, mesothelial cells were also obtained from the serosal surface of human colonic tissue. By electron microscopy the cultured cells were found to exhibit microvilli, a well developed endoplasmic reticulum and golgi apparatus, micropinocytotic vesicles, and lipid-filled intracellular vesicles. Immunochemical probes revealed the expression by these cells in vitro of cytokeratin, fibronectin, vimentin, and keratin, but not von Willebrand factor. Mesothelial cells from rat, rabbit, and human exhibited contact inhibition, but differences in growth rates and dependence on supplements to the growth media. This work provides a multispecies comparison of the behavior of mesothelial cells in vitro for the purpose of developing an experimental system for the study of mesothelial cell biology and the role of these cells in peritoneal dialysis.

On mast cell-mediated mitogenesis in normal and hyperplastic mesenterial windows in female rats

The outcome of the mast cell-mediated mitogenesis in hyperplastic membranous mesenterial windows of lactating rats as well as in normal mesenterial windows of age-matched and young virgin female rats was studied quantitatively in vivo and in organ culture. Besides elucidating the effect of age and tissue hyperplasia on mitogenic responsiveness, this approach should provide some insight into the pathogenic mechanics of the previously reported supranormal mast cell-mediated mitogenic reaction that emerges in similarly hyperplastic mesenterial windows of diabetic rats. Mast cell secretion was elicited by Compound 48/80 and the histamine release, which was quantified fluorometrically, was unaffected by lactation. The young female rats showed a statistically significant mast cell-dependent mitogenesis taken as the mitotic index and the fraction of the predominating fibroblasts and mesothelial cells in the (S+G2) cell cycle phases after Feulgen-DNA absorption analysis of the cells in situ. Although there was an age-dependent decrease in mitogenesis, the older lactating and non-lactating virgin control rats also showed mast cell-mediated mitogenesis measured as the specific DNA activity. The hyperplastic mesenterial tissue of the lactating animals showed a virtually normal mitogenic reactivity following local mast cell secretion, but at a lower level than in the age-matched controls. This finding suggests that the supranormal mast cell-mediated mitogenesis previously found in the hyperplastic mesenterial windows of diabetic animals is causally related to the diabetic condition rather than to the hyperplastic state of the test tissue.

Mast-cell secretion and angiogenesis, a quantitative study in rats and mice

The activation of the autogenous mast cells (MCs) in situ in intact mesenterial windows was elicited by the intraperitoneal injection of the MC secretagogue Compound 48/80 over a period of 1, 3 and 5 days in Sprague-Dawley rats and in C57 BL/6 and CBA/Ca mice. As a probe of MC secretion, the release of histamine was quantified fluorometrically at predetermined intervals during the treatment. Fourteen days after the start of the treatment, the angiogenic response was quantified histologically as the number of vessel profiles per unit length of mesenteric window. Both the MC-activating and the angiogenic effect of the 48/80-treatment was greater in the rats than in the mice. The occurrence of MC-mediated angiogenesis in the mouse is demonstrated here for the first time. In the rat, 48/80-induced MC mediated angiogenesis increased in a distinctly dose-dependent manner. Two daily doses of 48/80 was the most efficient angiogenic protocol tested; a single day's treatment increased the number of vessels almost fivefold. The remarkable potency of the angiogenic reaction following MC secretion supports our previous notion that MC-mediated angiogenesis may have therapeutic implications in poorly vascularized tissues.

Evidence of an acquired increase in mitogenesis in streptozotocin-diabetic rats, apparently relating to some tissue factor

We have previously reported that rats which have been suffering from streptozotocin-diabetes for 4 weeks show a supranormal mast cell mediated mitogenesis in mesenteric windows and in the skin; this late emerging, augmented mitogenic responsiveness appears, to be unaffected by insulin per se. To test whether this increased proliferogenic response is effected by some acquired quality within the tissue rather than a systemic factor in the blood, we studied mast cell mediated mitogenesis in organ-cultured intact mesenteric windows from rats with diabetes of 4 weeks' duration, using a biochemically-defined serum-free growth medium. Mast cells were activated by Compound 48/80 and their secretion was quantified biochemically in terms of histamine release. The mast cell-dependent mitogenic reaction in the predominant, morphologically discrete fibroblasts and mesothelial cells was quantified photometrically using Feulgen-absorption analysis of individual cell nuclei, and by determination of the mitotic index. Both types of target cell responded to a significantly greater degree mitogenically in diabetic compared with control tissue. This finding suggests that a considerable part of the increased mitogenic responsiveness previously observed in diabetic animals in vivo is causally related to some tissue-bound, i.e., cellular and/or extracellular factor(s) acquired during the course of the disease.

Molecular aspects of mast-cell-mediated mitogenesis in fibroblasts and mesothelial cells in situ

Mast-cell-mediated mitogenesis in intact tissues is a paracrine reaction the molecular mechanisms of which still have to be elucidated. One strategy worth exploring is to study the mitogenic reaction under as defined conditions as possible. The present study demonstrates that in the virtually avascular rat mesentery, organ-cultured in a biochemically-defined medium, activation of mast cells induced a mitogenic reaction in fibroblasts and mesothelial cells, the two predominant, morphologically distinct neighboring cell types. Thus the system provides a means of studying the influence of defined molecules in the growth medium on the outcome of a mitogenic response in these two cell types in situ. It was further observed that exogenous platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) was not essential for this mast-cell-mediated mitogenic reaction to occur in the tissue-bound fibroblasts and mesothelial cells.

Hyperplasia of the mesenterial windows precedes that of the small gut in the streptozotocin-diabetic rat

Hyperplastic growth of the mesenterial windows abutting the small gut occurs in lactating rats (Bergström and Norrby 1988) and chronically diabetic rats (Norrby et al. 1983). In the present study, early events in the mesenterial windows and the small gut in streptozotocin-diabetic rats were examined. The area of the mesenterial windows had already increased significantly on day 1 and hyperplasia in terms of increased DNA content, as well as an increase in histamine content (a mast-cell marker), was established from day 2 of diabetes. The increase in total mesenterial window content of DNA, histamine and protein was roughly linear and parallel from day 2 to day 19. The small-gut circumference increased transiently on day 1, but the small-gut mucosal volume was unaffected on days 1 and 2. The small-gut wet weight increased significantly from day 5, whereas elongation was not observed until day 19. The difference in time between the appearance of hyperplasia and the growth of the mesenterial windows and their adjoining gut and the rate with which the hyperplasia proceeds in the two tissues indicate that the regulatory mechanisms of early hyperplastic growth in these tissues are not identical. The factor(s) causing mesenterial window growth and hyperplasia is/are as yet unknown.

Mesenterial-window hyperplasia in the lactating rat

By examining the true mesentery adjacent to the small gut before and after weaning, as well as in age-matched controls, we found that the number of mesenteric windows, their total area, and their total DNA content increased significantly during lactation. Simultaneously, Feulgen-DNA absorption analysis in individual mesenteric cells showed that these had a normal DNA stemline, and a normal distribution within the G1-G2 range. The hyperplasia and growth developed and declined temporally somewhat parallel in the mesenterial windows and their adjacent small gut, suggesting that an as yet unknown common factor(s) governs the hyperplastic growth in both these tissues. The novel physiological, mesenterial-window hyperplasia in the lactating rat described in the present study may prove useful for studies of the mesenteric function and the regulation of cell proliferation.

Tumor-bearing depresses distant mast-cell-mediated mitogenesis

A methylcholanthrene-induced sarcoma grafted subcutaneously in rats was used in early transplantation generations. Tumor-bearing rats showed weight loss compatible with cachexia. Healthy rats of the same age served as controls. In tumor-bearing rats the basal mesenteric proliferation was unaffected whereas the strictly mast-cell-mediated hyperproliferative reaction in the mesentery was significantly reduced after intraperitoneal injection of the mast-cell-secretagogue compound 48/80, as judged from specific DNA activity and mitosis counting. However, in mesentery and peritoneal lavage the number of mast cells, their histamine-releasing capacity, and their content of histamine, 5-hydroxytryptamine and heparin were unaffected by tumor-burden. The findings suggest the presence of a tumor-associated systemic factor of unknown nature which interferes with the biochemical events leading to the mast-cell-dependent mitogenesis. Since this mitogenic reaction may normally compensate for injury at the cellular level it is questioned whether the decreased mast-cell-dependent proliferation in tumor-bearing is a component of cachexia.