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The modulation of growth of normal rat liver epithelial cells in calcium-poor medium by epidermal growth factor, phenobarbital, phorbol ester, and retinoic acid

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Summary

The ability of a normal rat liver epithelial cell line with phenotypic characteristics of “oval” cells to grow in calcium-poor medium has been investigated. The growth of these cells could be arrested in medium containing 0.03 mM Ca2+, a concentration below which cell necrosis began to occur 24 h postexposure. With increasing calcium concentration, progressive cell proliferation was observed. Epithelial growth factor (EGF) (10 ng/ml) increased the survival and proliferation of cells in calcium-poor medium and the response was inversely correlated with the extracellular calcium concentration. In contrast, phenobarbital (0.2 to 2 mM), 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (0.01 to 1 μg/ml), or retinoic acid (0.001 to 0.1 μg/ml) depressed growth of cells in calcium-poor medium. The results confirm the ability of EGF to lower the calcium requirement for proliferation of normal cells, but such an effect does not seem to be a universal property of tumor promoters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, University of North Carolina, School of Medicine, 27514, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

    Ming-Sound Tsao, Judith D. Smith & Joe W. Grisham

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  1. Ming-Sound Tsao
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  2. Judith D. Smith
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This research was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant CA 29323.

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Tsao, MS., Smith, J.D. & Grisham, J.W. The modulation of growth of normal rat liver epithelial cells in calcium-poor medium by epidermal growth factor, phenobarbital, phorbol ester, and retinoic acid. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol 21, 249–253 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02620937

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02620937

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