Development of Xenopus laevis skin glands in organ culture

In vitro development of Xenopus skin glands producing 5-hydroxytryptamine and caerulein

The granular glands of amphibian skin synthesize and store a large amount of bioactive amines and peptides which are structurally similar to mammalian brain-gut peptides. To investigate the development of peptide- and amine-producing cells in the granular glands, pieces of dorsal skin taken at various stages from Xenopus laevis tadpoles were cultured, and the contents of caerulein and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) were measured. When pieces of skin from tadpoles at stages 57 to 60 (Nieuwkoop and Faber stages) were cultured in a medium containing 10% fetal calf serum (FCS medium) or one containing FCS treated with charcoal (chFCS medium), the caerulein and 5-HT levels were increased for the six days of the incubation period. The caerulein content was lower in the chFCS medium than in the FCS medium. Addition of thyroxine to the chFCS medium had no significant effect on the caerulein content. These results show that the caerulein- and 5-HT-producing cells of the granular glands can develop in a culture system with FCS- or chFCS-containing media, and suggest that FCS contains substances which are absorbed by charcoal and stimulate development of the amine- and peptide-producing cells of the glands. In a preliminary search for correlation between caerulein and 5-HT synthesis, addition of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), a precursor to 5-HT, to the FCS medium increased 5-HT content and, conversely, caused significant decrease in caerulein content, suggesting that accumulation of caerulein in the granular glands is influenced by the amount of 5-HT synthesis. These studies indicate that this culture system is a useful model for investigating the development of peptide- and amine-producing cells.

Thyroid hormone-induced differential synthesis of water-insoluble proteins in epidermal cell cultures from the hind limb of Rana catesbeiana tadpoles in stages XII-XV and XVI-XIX

Hind limb epidermal cell cultures from stage XII-XV and XVI-XIX tadpoles of the American bullfrog Rana catesbeiana were maintained for 36 and 120 hr in medium containing either fetal calf serum or thyroid hormone (3,3',5-triiodothyronine, T3; 3 x 10(-10) mol/ml). T3 induces the precocious synthesis (within the first 36 hr) of a 59-kDa keratin associated with epidermal stratification in cultures from stages XII-XV. In epidermal cell cultures from stages XVI-XIX, T3 produces an overall pattern of water-insoluble proteins, including keratins, which is strikingly similar to temporally differentiated cultures (120 hr). A 73-kDa protein is among the water-insoluble proteins precociously synthesized by 36-hr-old cultures from stages XVI-XIX treated with T3. This protein, which is not immunoprecipitated by antibodies raised against keratins, corresponds in Mr and pI to a mammalian differentiation-specific desmosomal plaque protein. Immunoprecipitation of keratins from 120-hr-old cultures shows that many of the water-insoluble proteins synthesized are, indeed, keratins. Further, quantitation, by laser densitometry, of immunoprecipitated keratins from 120-hr cultures demonstrates that greater amounts of keratins, particularly the 65 and 59 kDa which are associated with a differentiated epidermis, are present in stages XVI-XIX. This study indicates that epidermal cell cultures from stages XVI-XIX respond more quickly to the differentiating effects of T3.

3,3',5-Triiodothyronine-induced differences in water-insoluble protein synthesis in primary epidermal cell cultures from the hind limb of premetamorphic Rana catesbeiana tadpoles

Epidermal cells from the hind limb of premetamorphic tadpoles of the American bullfrog Rana catesbeiana (stages IX-XI) were maintained in primary culture for 120 hr. Cultures, maintained for 36 hr in medium supplemented with L-triiodothyronine (T3; 3 x 10(-10) mol T3/ml medium), synthesize water-insoluble proteins with Mrs of 59, 50, 48, and 43. The 59 and 48 kDa proteins synthesized by T3-supplemented cultures are not detectably synthesized by 36-hr-old cell cultures without added T3, but they are synthesized by both hormone-supplemented and unsupplemented cultures after 120 hr. These two proteins have Mrs and pIs which correspond with keratins detected in stratifying mammalian epidermis and are immunoprecipitated by antibodies prepared against human keratins. These observations indicate that T3 induces epidermal cell cultures from the hind limb of premetamorphic tadpoles to precociously synthesize water-insoluble proteins which (1) have Mrs and pIs similar to keratins from differentiating amphibian epidermal tissue and (2) are biochemically and immunologically similar to keratins associated with the differentiation of mammalian epidermal tissue.