Secretory activity of hamster tracheal explants and isolated tracheal epithelial cells and the effects of cystic fibrosis serum.

Serum from cystic fibrosis patients has been shown by scanning electron microscopy to cause release of large quantities of mucus from the cultured tracheal rings of 3-4-month-old male Golden Syrian hamsters. In order to study this phenomenon on single cells, an epithelial (HTE) cell culture has been established from the hamster tracheal rings using the cell rescue method of Goldman and Baseman (1980a, In Vitro, 16:313). The cells were demonstrated to be epithelial by histochemical staining and immunofluorescent detection of laminin. Proteins secreted by HTE cells were partially characterized and shown to consist, at least in part, of acidic glycoproteins. The proteins were precipitated by addition of buffered alcian blue (AB) to the cell-free medium under conditions in which all of a polyanionic protein [3H]-labeled mucin, was precipitated without carrier. [14C] galactosamine-labeled AB precipitate was beta-eliminated and, after neutralization and centrifugation, the material in the supernatant was sized by chromatography on a calibrated Bio-Gel P2 column. The label eluted with a molecular weight close to a disaccharide. HTE cells pulse-labeled for 1.0 hr with [3H] leucine or [14C] galactosamine secreted increasing amounts of labeled glycoprotein during the chase. Sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and fluorography of labeled AB precipitates revealed three major bands, two with molecular weights greater than 100 kd. Secretion was stimulated by retinoate (50% increase), but not by retinol. Exposure of HTE cells to whole sera from cystic fibrosis patients resulted in heightened secretion rates as compared to results obtained with normal sera. Heterozygote sera produced secretion rates intermediate between the two extremes.