title: Effects of ageing and long-term subcultivation on collagen lattice contraction and intra-lattice proliferation in three rat cell types.
abstract: Many cells can contract a hydrated collagen lattice when seeded within one, reorganizing the collagen fibrils into a compact structure by tractional forces exerted during cell movement and translocation. The effects of ageing on this tractional-motility property of cells was examined for three cell types from adult Fischer 344 male rats: skin fibroblasts, aortic smooth muscle cells, and dedifferentiated chondrocytes. All cell types at low population doubling levels (PDL less than 10) contracted collagen lattices, though with different proficiencies (smooth muscle cells greater than dedifferentiated chondrocytes greater than skin fibroblasts). There was no significant difference in contraction ability of cell isolates of the same type obtained from 4-month and 24-30-month animals. Cells that had been subcultivated extensively (PDLs of 50-110) retained contractional ability. The cell types proliferated within lattices to varying extents, and there was no correlation between a cell type's extent of proliferation in a lattice and its proliferation in monolayer culture. That lattice contraction ability is preserved intact with ageing in three cell types suggests that the tractional forces exerted by cells on a collagen matrix in vitro may have a significant role in adult life in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Merrill
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D002356:Cartilage / Q000166:cytology; D002465:Cell Movement; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism*; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000166:cytology; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen