title: Transient mosaic patterns of morphological and functional differentiation in the Caco-2 cell line.
abstract: To gain further insight on the mosaic expression of specific functional intestinal markers (such as sucrase-isomaltase) in postconfluent Caco-2 cells, a human colon cancer cell line unique in its property to differentiate in vitro into a mature enterocyte-like cell type, a comparative study was undertaken to examine the morphological and functional differentiation of Caco-2 cells at various culture stages. The observations clearly indicate that Caco-2 cells can exist only in three different states in culture: homogeneously undifferentiated (at subconfluence), heterogeneously polarized and differentiated (between 0 and 20 days after confluence), and homogeneously polarized and differentiated (after 30 days). Indeed, in the intermediate state, a strong discrepancy is found among adjacent differentiating cells throughout the monolayer relative to sucrase-isomaltase expression as well as to cell morphology and brush border organization. Back-scattered electron imaging analysis showed a lack of correlation between these parameters at the cellular level. These observations indicate that morphological and functional differentiations of Caco-2 cells progress concomitantly according to a transient mosaic pattern, thus providing evidence that these two processes are not coupled.
authors.affiliation: Département d'Anatomie et de Biologie Cellulaire, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Vachon
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Beaulieu
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D013394:Sucrase-Isomaltase Complex / Q000032:analysis; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D013394:Sucrase-Isomaltase Complex