Selective control of fibroblast proliferation and its effect on cardiac muscle differentiation in vitro.

The stability of the differentiated state of cardiac myocytes in vitro was examined under culture conditions which selectively stimulated or inhibited proliferation of fibroblasts. Regulation of fibroblast proliferation in cultures of myocardial cells from 8-day embryonic chicks was achieved by adjustment of the glutamine (Gln) concentration in the culture medium (Ham's F-12 medium containing 2 x amino acids and 5% fetal calf serum). Myocardial cells, when plated at 80 cells/mm2 in Gln- medium, maintained a stable density of approximately 40% of the plating density for more than 30 days. When Gln was added to the medium (292 micrograms/ml) fibroblast proliferation was stimulated, and by 5-6 days after this addition cell densities had increased to confluency. The selective action of glutamine on fibroblast proliferation was determined by labeling cultures with tritiated thymidine ([3H]TdR) and scoring its incorporation into myocytes and fibroblasts by radioautography. After 2 weeks in Gln- medium, the mitotic index was 0.3% and the [3H]TdR-labeling index (1.5-hr pulse) was 6.4%. In addition, the proportion of myocytes in the population was constant at 64.2% for at least 30 days in vitro, and contractile activity was observed for up to 6 months. After 5 days of Gln replacement, the cells exhibited a labeling index of 25%, the proportion of myocytes decreased to less than 10% and contractile activity was rarely observed. Although the [3H]TdR-labeling index of fibroblasts and myocytes was nearly identical in Gln- medium, the addition of Gln produced a fivefold stimulation in the fibroblast labeling index, but did not affect myocyte proliferation or DNA synthesis. A unique phenomenon of myocyte congregation was observed only in Gln- medium which resulted in the formation of myocyte colonies from which fibroblasts were largely absent. It is suggested that this process with the resultant establishment of a functional electrical syncytium plays a significant role in the development and stabilization of myocyte differentiation in vitro.