Abstract
Explants of fetal rat lung develop in vitro in the absence of exogenous hormones in the culture medium. This suggests that the fetal lung itself produces a factor or factors which initiate and regulate lung maturation. We have examined the effects of medium obtained from fetal rat lung organ cultures on lung development in vitro. Serum-free conditioned medium (CM) was collected from cultures of 20d lung (term is 22 days) and tested in explants of 16 or 18 day lung. Exposure to CM for 48 or 72h enhanced the rate of choline incorporation into phosphatidylcholine in a dose dependent fashion. About 70% stimulation was observed with undiluted CM. The activity was not destroyed by freezing, heating to 60°C, or charcoal treatment (suggesting that it was not due to low M.W. hormones), but it was obliterated by exposure to trypsin, consistent with the stimulatory factor being a protein or polypeptide. Stimulatory activity was also not decreased by incubation of CM with monoclonal antibody to fibroblast pneumonocyte factor (kindly provided by Drs. Post ε Smith), but there was synergism with both dexamethasone and T3. When CM was collected for successive 24h periods from explants of 16 day lung, there was a progressive increase in stimulatory capacity with increasing time in culture. Fetal rat lung appears to produce a factor or factors which regulate its own development. Isolation and characterization of this factor is in progress.
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Gross, I., Wilson, C. STIMULATION OF FETAL LUNG PHOSPHATIDYLCHOL INE SYNTHESIS BY CONDITIONED MEDIUM FROM FETAL LUNG EXPLANTS. Pediatr Res 18 (Suppl 4), 139 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00274
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198404001-00274