Primary cultures of rat aortic media: a growth stop phenomenon different from contact inhibition.
Cultures have been made from explants of thoracic aortas to study the growth pattern of aortic mediacytes. Explants from aortas of eight rats, aged between seven to eight weeks, were seeded. Three parameters were measured weekly from the second to the nineth week: the surface of the culture (S); the relative increment of this surface (delta S/S) and the number of 3H-thymidine labelled cells by the unit surface (n chi S-1) after autoradiography. The surface of primary culture, in relation to time, has roughly the shape of a sigmoidal curve. Growth is continuous until the fifth week and reaches a plateau beyond that time. The two other parameters decreased regularly during the first phase to attain a minimum at the beginning of the plateau-period; however new cells in the S-phase are still found in this second period.
D000818:Animals; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic; D002455:Cell Division; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004247:DNA / Q000096:biosynthesis; D009130:Muscle, Smooth; D051381:Rats; D013936:Thymidine / Q000378:metabolism
D004247:DNA; D013936:Thymidine