Premium
Bindings of the lectins Griffonia simplicifolia ‐1 and pokeweed mitogen mark discrete stages of myoepithelial‐like differentiation of cell lines from the rat mammary gland
Author(s) -
Rudland Philip S.,
Hughes Christine M.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of cellular physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 174
eISSN - 1097-4652
pISSN - 0021-9541
DOI - 10.1002/jcp.1041460206
Subject(s) - myoepithelial cell , biology , griffonia simplicifolia , cell culture , microbiology and biotechnology , cellular differentiation , cell , pokeweed mitogen , lectin , immunology , in vitro , biochemistry , concanavalin a , immunohistochemistry , genetics , gene
Individual single‐cell‐cloned cell lines of the different rat mammary (Rama) cell types have been tested for their ability to bind the lectins Griffonia simplicifolia‐1 (GS‐1) and pokeweed mitogen (PWM) using fluorescent, histochemical, and radioactive assays. Myoepithelial‐like cell lines isolated from neonatal rat mammary glands and from nonmetastasizing tumors strongly bind GS‐1 and PWM, whereas the corresponding epithelial and fibroblastic cell lines do not. When the epithelial cell lines are grown on floating gels of polymerised rat tail collagen, the basally situated or peripheral cells are stained strongly with peroxidase‐conjugated lectins, whereas the apically or luminally situated cells are unstained. The capacity of cell lines intermediate in morphology between epithelial and myoepithelial‐like cells to bind to GS‐1 is as follows: Rama 25 epithelial < Rama 25–12 < Rama 25‐I1 < Rama 25–14 < Rama 29 myoepithelial‐like cells, the same order as for other markers of myoepithelial cells. Conjugated PWM, however, binds only to the myoepithelial‐like cell lines. Treatment of Rama 25 epithelial cells with agents that disrupt microtubules accelerates their conversion to elongated, myoepithelial‐like cells in culture. The binding of cells to GS‐1 is observed prior to, and that to PWM after, the major morphological change. It is suggested that the stepwise appearances of carbohydrate receptors for GS‐1 and PWM mark discrete stages in the differentiation of epithelial to myoepithelial‐like cells in culture, in the same way that they mark similar differentiation stages in ductal development in mammary glands of prepubertal rats.