Deficient expression of mRNA for the putative inductive factor bone morphogenetic protein-7 in chemically initiated rat nephroblastomas.

Wilms' tumor, or nephroblastoma, arises from metanephric blastema and caricatures renal organogenesis. An alteration in at least one of the genes involved in control of renal differentiation is therefore a likely event in tumorigenesis, and indeed some of the genes involved in renal development, for example, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor c-met, the transcription factor Wilms' tumor gene (WT1), and transforming growth factor-beta family member bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-7, have also been implicated in various models of tumorigenesis. In a comparison of mRNA expression patterns for these genes in normal rat embryonic or fetal kidney and nephroblastoma, we found that the patterns for HGF, met, and WT1 detected by in situ hybridization or ribonuclease protection assay (RPA) in the nephroblastomas were similar to those of normal developing kidney. BMP-7 expression, on the other hand, was lower in most tumors examined both by in situ hybridization and RPA than in normal tissues. This deficiency in a defined inductive factor that has been shown to function in renal tubulogenesis may play a role in tumorigenesis by allowing the accumulation of blastemal populations typical of nephroblastomas.

Conditioned medium from a rat ureteric bud cell line in combination with bFGF induces complete differentiation of isolated metanephric mesenchyme.

Differentiation of metanephric mesenchyme is triggered by an inductive signal(s) from the epithelial ureteric bud. As a result of this induction, most of the metanephric mesenchyme converts into epithelium of a nephron. We have developed and characterized an explant culture system, in which metanephric mesenchyme can grow and completely differentiate in vitro in the absence of an inductive tissue. When separated 13 dpc rat metanephric mesenchymes were cultured in serum-free conditioned medium from a rat ureteric bud cell line (RUB1) in the presence of bFGF and TGFalpha, they were induced to differentiate into nephron epithelia and glomeruli-like structures. The nephric type of differentiation was confirmed by both morphological and molecular criteria and paralleled the developmental changes of nephron differentiation in vivo. Expression patterns of brush-border antigen as well as molecular markers of kidney differentiation Wt1, Lim1, Hgf and c-met, c-ret, Shh, Wnt4, Wnt7b, and Wnt11 were analyzed in explants by whole mount and tissue section in situ hybridization following 1-9 days in culture. The expression of secreted patterning molecules Bmp7 and Wnt7b, but not Shh or Wnt11, were demonstrated by RT-PCR and northern blot hybridization with RNA from the RUB1 cells. Our culture system lends itself to examining the relevance of these and other signaling molecules required for nephron differentiation.

The polarization of fibroblasts in early primary cultures is independent of microtubule integrity.

Fibroblasts in culture apparently require an intact system of microtubules in order to adopt and maintain a polarized morphology. In contrast, the polarization of a number of epithelial cell types has been shown to be microtubule-independent. Reconciliation of these apparently contradictory data is difficult, however, because the epithelial cells were studied in short-term primary cultures while the fibroblasts were studied in secondary or longer-term cultures. To clarify the situation we have examined the effects of the microtubule-disrupting drugs, colcemid and nocodazole, on the polarization of a single cell type, the chick heart fibroblast (HF), maintained in both primary (1 degree) and secondary (2 degree) cultures. Immunofluorescence observations of both types of culture showed that in control medium the cells contained abundant microtubules, which were absent if the cells were cultured in medium containing either colcemid or nocodazole. The effects of microtubule-disrupting drugs on the polarization of the cells were quantified using two measures of cell shape, elongation and dispersion, both of which increase with increasing polarization. The results show that microtubule-disrupting drugs do not have a significant effect on the polarization of HF spreading in 1 degree culture but significantly reduce the polarization of HF spreading in 2 degree cultures. The effects of microtubule disruption on HF that had been maintained in 1 degree culture for 6 h, 24 h or 48 h were also quantified.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Expression of vimentin and prekeratins in solid and ascites variants of Zajdela hepatoma]. / Ekspressiia vimentina i prekeratinov v solidnykh i astsitnykh variantakh gepatomy Zajdela.

Using indirect immunofluorescence with monoclonal antibodies against prekeratins and vimentin, the contents and intracellular distribution of these proteins have been investigated in Seidel hepatoma cells. In ascitic tumour, cells were organized in multicellular unilayer spheric or ellipsoid complexes with an inner cavity. Such complexes have been found to express intracellular vimentin and chaotically distributed prekeratin filaments. One of the constituents of the normal epithelial basal membrane--laminin was not found on the basal surface of cellular complexes but was localized in their inner lumens only. The expression of vimentin and prekeratin filaments was preserved in metastatic tumour cells found in paratracheal lymph nodes and in the majority of solid tumour cells induced by subcutaneous cell injections. In both cases tumour cells did not form regular morphological structures and laminin was visualized as extracellular granules and short fibrils. In several cases subcutaneous injections of Seidel hepatoma cells gave rise to adenocarcinomas. Prekeratin filaments in these tumours were localized predominantly under cellular membranes. Laminin "membranes" outlined the basal surface of adenomatous structures. Vimentin in these cellular structures was completely absent. It is suggested that vimentin expression in Seidel hepatoma cells was suppressed with morphological normalization of tumour structures manifested in the regular distribution of intercellular contacts and in basal membrane reconstitution.

[Differences in the expression of prekeratin and vimentin in organ and monolayer cultures of rat hepatocytes]. / Razlichiia ékspressii prekeratina i vimentina v organnykh i monosloinykh kul'turakh gepatotsitov krys.

Results obtained by the indirect immunofluorescence method employing specific monoclonal antibodies show that during the first 24 hours of cultivation in a monolayer there appears another protein of intermediate filaments--vimentin, which is a characteristic of most mesenchymal cells. At the same time, in the organ liver culture maintained in the same culture medium, no expression of vimentin was observed up to 5-7 days of cultivation. Vimentin was revealed only in cells that migrated from a tissuepiece to collagen. Besides the vimentin expression in these migrating cells and monolayer cultures of hepatocytes, a redistribution of prekeratin filaments took place: the cytoplasmic network appeared instead of thick fibers underlying membranes. The results of the present work suggest that the vimentin expression and the prekeratin filament redistribution in epithelial liver cells in vitro do not depend on the changes of natural humoral factors for the components of culture medium but are due to damages of the intact liver tissue structure.

[Role of microtubules and intermediate filaments in maintaining the shape of epithelial cells]. / Rol' mikrotrubochek i promezhutochnykh filamentov v podderzhanii formy épitelial'nykh kletok.

The role of microtubules and intermediate filaments in control of cell shape of cultured cells of hepatomas McA-RH-7777 and 27 was investigated. Indirect immunofluorescence with specific polyclonal antibodies against tubulin and monoclonal antibodies against prekeratin with molecular weight 49 kD and vimentin was used. Incubation of cells in colcemid, resulting in specific distribution of microtubules did not change either prekeratin or vimentin distribution in cells of both the hepatomas, but reversed polarization of elongated McA-RH-7777 cells. These data suggest that the effect of disruption of microtubular system on the cell shape is not mediated by alterations of intermediate filaments.

[Specific protein markers in monolayer hepatocyte cultures from adult rats]. / Spetsificheskie belkovye markery v monosloinykh kul'turakh gepatotsitov vzroslykh krys.

By indirect immunofluorescence it has been shown that syntheses of protein A, ligandin, cytochrome P-450 PhB, and serum albumin persist in hepatocytes of adult rats during the first 2-3 days in culture. A surface protein--fibronectin--was also synthesized in cultured cells to be localized on the lower side of the free cell edge. On the 4-5th day of cultivation large regions of the lammelar cytoplasm appeared in hepatocytes accompanied by cell polarization. As a result, cells acquired a "fibroblast-like" form. During this period of cultivation, cells were characterized by the loss of cytochrome P-450 PhB, by a drastic decrease in protein A, and ligandin synthesis. At the same time, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, the protein characteristic of the embryonic stages, was revealed histochemically. Therefore, the impairment of tissue organization accompanying the transfer of hepatocytes into the vitro conditions results in gradual changes of their morphology, in a reduction or complete loss of some specific "adult" synthesis and activation of the "embryonic" synthesis.