Cerebral microvessels and derived cells in tissue culture: II. Establishment, identification, and preliminary characterization of an endothelial cell line.

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).