Immortalization of bovine pancreatic duct epithelial cells. Marino, Lucyndia R., and Calvin U. Cotton. The Cystic Fibrosis Center, Departments of Pediatrics and Physiology and Biophysics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106
APStracts 2:0213G, 1995.
Pancreatic duct cell lines have been isolated from a number of animal and human tumors, but none appear to express ion transport properties expected for differentiated pancreatic duct epithelial cells. We sought to generate an immortalized ductal cell line from well differentiated primary cultures of bovine pancreatic duct epithelium. Epithelial cells from the main duct of the bovine pancreas were isolated and immortalized by transfection with a DNA construct encoding Simian virus Large-T antigen. A single clone(BPD1) survived negative selection and was maintaied in culture for more than 100 passages over 2 years. The cells grow readily in culture as monolayers and express several properties characteristic of differentiated pancreatic ductal epithelium. The cells do not appear to form a functional tight junction complex since the transepithelial resistance of the monolayer cultures grown on a permeable support is less than 10Wcm2 Northern blot analysis revealed that the cells continue to express SV40 Large-T antigen and contain significant levels of mRNA for proteins thought to be important in transepithelial bicarbonate secretion [carbonic anhydrase II, Cl -/HCO3- exchanger, Na+/H+ exchanger, and cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR)]. In vivo pancreatic ductal secretion is stimulated by the peptide hormone secretin. The secretin receptor is expressed and functionally coupled to adenylate cyclase in the immortalized cells, since secretin caused a dose-dependent accumulation of cAMP(20 fold increase over basal levels) with an EC50=15 nM. Elevation of intracellular cAMP by exposure of the cells to forskolin(10[mu]M) or secretin(0.1[mu]M) increased plasma membrane Cl- permeability, most likely mediated by activation of CFTR. The results of these studies demonstrate that the pancreatic duct cell line (BPD1) retains several properties exhibited by the secretory epithelial cells that line the pancreatic ductal tree. this cell line should prove useful for studies of expression, function, and regulation of pancreatic duct cell proteins.

Received 28 February 1995; accepted in final form 4 October 1995.
APS Manuscript Number G90-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Gastrointest. Liver
Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 6 November 95