title: A population of mammary epithelial cells do not require hormones or growth factors to survive.
abstract: Hormonal stimulation of mammary explants mimics many of the biochemical changes observed during lactogenesis. Previous studies using eutherian species conclude that mammary explants require addition of exogenous macromolecules to remain hormone responsive in culture. The present study examines the survival of mammary explants from the wallaby and mouse using milk protein gene expression as a functional marker of lactation and cell viability. Mammary explants from pregnant tammars and mice showed that milk protein gene expression was significantly elevated after 3 days of culture with lactogenic hormones. The subsequent removal of exogenous hormones from the media for 10 days resulted in the down-regulation of milk protein genes. Surprisingly, mammary explants remained hormone responsive and expression of milk protein genes was re-induced after a second challenge with lactogenic hormones. Furthermore, the alveolar architecture was maintained. Global functional microarray analysis showed that classic involution markers were not differentially expressed, although two stress-induced survival genes were significantly up-regulated. We report that a population of mammary epithelial cells have an intrinsic capacity to remain viable and hormone responsive for extended periods in chemically defined media without any exogenous macromolecules. We propose that the mammary explant culture model uncouples the first phase of involution, as milk accumulation that normally provides involution stimuli is absent in this culture model allowing a population of cells to survive.
authors.affiliation: CRC for Innovative Dairy Products, Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. a.brennan2@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Amelia J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.forename: Elie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Khalil
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Digby
authors.forename: Sonia L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Mailer
authors.forename: Christophe M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lefèvre
authors.forename: Kevin R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Nicholas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002364:Caseins / Q000235:genetics; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology; D007774:Lactation / Q000502:physiology*; D007782:Lactoglobulins / Q000235:genetics; D007614:Macropodidae; D008321:Mammary Glands, Animal / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D011388:Prolactin / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D002364:Caseins; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D007782:Lactoglobulins; D011388:Prolactin