Establishment of a pure culture of distinct cell types from bovine placental cotyledon

Development of an in vitro model for bovine placentation: a comparison of the in vivo and in vitro expression of integrins and components of extracellular matrix in bovine placental cells

BACKGROUND/AIMS

Interaction of trophoblastic integrins with the extracellular matrix plays a role in embryo implantation and trophoblast invasion. The phenomenon of restricted trophoblast invasion, observed in the bovine epitheliochorial placenta offers intriguing conditions to study invasive processes. The migration of bovine trophoblast giant cells is accompanied by the expression of specific integrins and corresponding extracellular matrix ligands.

METHODS

Primary cultures of different cell populations from cow placentomes were established and characterized, and in vitro phenotypes were compared with in vivo conditions by immunofluorescence.

RESULTS

Propagated epithelial cells were positive for cytokeratin and vimentin, while fibroblasts contained alpha-smooth muscle actin, desmin and vimentin. Epithelial cells coexpressed integrin subunits alpha(6) and beta(1) with laminin, and fibroblast cells were positive for alpha(v), beta(3), fibronectin and laminin. In contrast to cells in vivo, cultured epithelial cells secreted fibronectin, while collagen IV was not detected. The occurrence of integrin subunits was confirmed at mRNA level by RT-PCR.

CONCLUSION

We have established cell cultures isolated from maternal and fetal components of bovine placentomes expressing typical cytoskeletal filaments and integrin receptors also present in their in vivo counterparts. These bovine placentomal cells provide a suitable in vitro model for the study of cell-cell interactions.

Validation of primary epitheloid cell cultures isolated from bovine placental caruncles and cotyledons

In order to study feto-maternal interactions in the bovine synepitheliochorial placenta primary cell cultures of both placentomal components throughout pregnancy, namely caruncular epithelial cells and trophoblast cells were developed. The aim of this study was to validate and improve a method to culture caruncular epithelial cells and fetal trophoblast from manually separated placentomes. Prior to seeding the presence of fetal cells in caruncular samples and vice-versa could be demonstrated by the detection of the Y-chromosome via fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) provided the fetus was male. Epitheloid shaped cells present in both cultures (cotyledon and caruncle) were characterized on a morphological basis as well as by immunofluorescence and Western blot thereby detecting cytokeratin, zonula occludens-1 and vimentin but not alpha-smooth muscle actin and desmin. The absence of the Y-chromosome demonstrated the caruncular origin of epitheloid cells. In addition, a population of polygonally shaped cells derived from the cotyledon was propagated and displayed the same cytoskeletal characteristics as described above. The presence of the Y-chromosome confirmed the fetal origin of these cells and the lacking uptake of fluorescence conjugated low density lipoprotein, specific for endothelial cells, identified polygonally shaped cells as fetal trophoblast cells. In conclusion, the cross-contamination of maternal and fetal cells in manually separated placentomes should be considered in future experiments as it may lead to false positive results dependent on the sensitivity of the method applied. This study highlights the importance of an appropriate cell characterization and identification, especially when isolating primary cells.