Smooth muscle cells influence monocyte response to LDL as well as their adhesion and transmigration in a coculture model of the arterial wall.

We investigated the possible interference of smooth muscle cells with monocyte response to LDL as well as with their adhesion and transmigration in a coculture of porcine endothelial and smooth muscle cells. Lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), a component of oxidized LDL (oxLDL), stimulated the adhesion of THP-1 cells to endothelial cells both in mono- and in coculture with smooth muscle cells. When THP-1 cells were incubated with endothelial cells in the presence of copper oxLDL, their adhesion was increased, but only in coculture.

Compartmentalized coculture of porcine arterial endothelial and smooth muscle cells on a microporous membrane.

Endothelial and smooth muscle cells were harvested from porcine pulmonary arteries and grown to two passages from primary culture in serum-containing medium. Thereafter, the cells were plated on the opposite sides of microporous poly-(ethylene terephthalate) membrane and cultivated in a chemically defined, serum-free medium. The membrane with pores of 1 microgram diameter allowed the passage of molecules and the extension of cell processes, while maintaining separate homogeneous cell populations.

Phase I and II biotransformations in living CaCo 2 cells cultivated under serum-free conditions. Selective apical excretion of reaction products.

CaCo 2 cells, cultivated in a synthetic, serum-free nutritive medium on poly (ethylene terephthalate) membranes, form a confluent monolayer of differentiated cells, with the apical and basolateral poles exposed to the upper and lower compartments, respectively, of bicameral culture inserts (Halleux and Schneider, In Vitro Cell Dev Biol, 27A: 293-302, 1991). This cell culture system allows the passage of intact mannitol by the paracellular route and the transcellular diffusion of testosterone which appears mainly as a biotransformed unconjugated metabolite. When ethoxyresorufin is added to either the apical or basolateral poles of living CaCo 2 cells, resorufin is formed, and more than 80% is excreted at the apical pole.