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Cerebral microvessels and derived cells in tissue culture

II. Establishment, identification, and preliminary characterization of an endothelial cell line

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Summary

An endothelial cell line has been established from a primary culture of cerebral microvessels isolated from Swiss-Webster mice. The microvessels were isolated by a mechanical dispersion and filtration technique. The cells that emerged from these microvessels, maintained in organoid cultures, proliferated and formed plaques of a single or mixed cell type. The endothelial cell line, designated ME-2, was isolated from one such morphologically homogeneous cell plaque, using both cloning ring techniques and C6 glioma-conditioned medium.

An endothelial specific antiserum was made in rabbits and was used immunocytochemically to confirm the cell type of origin of the ME-2 cell line. Not only did the cell type specific antiserum react exclusively with endothelial cells in vivo, but in the brain the antiserum localized preferentially to the luminal membrane of the endothelium.

The ME-2 endothelial cells have retained several of their unique properties such as cytomorphology, growth characteristics, and cell type specific surface antigens throughout the life of the line (in one case 40 passages before senescence).

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  1. Lawrence E. DeBault

    Present address: Department of Pathology, Oklahoma Children's Memorial Hospital, University of Oklahoma, Health Science Center, 73126, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and The Arteriosclerosis Specialized Center of Research, University of Iowa College of Medicine, 52242, Iowa City, Iowa

    Lawrence E. DeBault, Eduardo Henriquez, Michael N. Hart & Pasquale A. Cancilla

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  1. Lawrence E. DeBault
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  2. Eduardo Henriquez
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  4. Pasquale A. Cancilla
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This paper is dedicated to the memory of Steve Frommes, Electron Microscopist and Photographer.

This work was supported in part by an Arteriosclerosis Specialized Center of Research grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Grant HL-14230, and Grant 584-127703 from the Veterans Adminsitration.

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DeBault, L.E., Henriquez, E., Hart, M.N. et al. Cerebral microvessels and derived cells in tissue culture. In Vitro 17, 480–494 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02633509

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