Proliferative and functional impairment of pancreatic epithelial cells maintained in vitro.

Studies on the proliferative and functional properties of epithelial cells from human and guinea pig pancreatic tissue were presented and discussed. A novel technique for the isolation of epithelial cell groupings as colonial aggregates in two dimensional culture was utilized. More conventio;al clonal analyses were also performed. Irrespective of the methodology employed, epithelial cells from both species exhibited reduced proliferative activity with time in vitro. Total degeneration occurred in less than five months in every case studied. Aggregates and colonial aggregates, formed using fractionated suspensions containing up to 95% guinea pig acinar cells, were found to release amylase only during the first few days in vitro. Positive response to secretogogue stimulation was interpreted as evidence favoring the thesis that permanent cellular damage had not been sustained during tissue dissociation. These findings were discussed with reference to the phenomenon of human fibroblast degeneration with time in culture. Differences between fibroblast and epithelial cell behavior in vitro and in vivo were emphasized.