spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Baffet, G.
Right arrow Articles by Guguen-Guillouzo, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Baffet, G.
Right arrow Articles by Guguen-Guillouzo, C.

Journal of Cell Science, Vol 99, Issue 3 609-615, Copyright © 1991 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Distinct effects of cell-cell communication and corticosteroids on the synthesis and distribution of cytokeratins in cultured rat hepatocytes

G Baffet, P Loyer, D Glaise, A Corlu, PL Etienne and C Guguen-Guillouzo
Unite de Recherches Hepatologiques, INSERM U 49, Hopital Pontchaillou, Rennes, France.

Cytokeratins CK 8 and CK 18 are the two keratins expressed in the liver. They are known to undergo extensive changes in expression with alteration of the hepatocyte phenotype in vitro. In this study, we have investigated the variation in levels of these two cytokeratins in hepatocytes selected from different situations in vivo. The amounts of corresponding transcripts were compared; cytokeratin 8 and 18 mRNAs were present at similar levels in hepatocytes freshly isolated from adult liver and, unexpectedly, from 17-day-old foetuses and newborn rats, whereas they were markedly higher in regenerating hepatocytes isolated early after partial hepatectomy. In order to investigate whether the different factors that can promote hepatocyte differentiation also produce a similar set of cytoskeletal changes, we have analysed both the expression and the distribution of cytokeratins in hepatocytes under different culture conditions allowing modulation of differentiation. Establishment of cell-cell contacts and addition of glucocorticoids were used as two modulating factors. Coculturing hepatocytes with rat liver epithelial cells (RLEC), which favours active expression of liver-specific genes, resulted in a gradual decline of cytokeratin mRNAs, whereas pure hepatocyte cultures, which exhibit rapid phenotypic changes, expressed increasing levels of CK 8 and CK 18 transcripts. Furthermore, intracellular CK distribution was dramatically modified in parallel: the CK-positive material formed a fine network of fibrils uniformly distributed in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes in pure culture, whereas in cocultured cells CK immunofluorescence appeared principally located at the cellular periphery and it was regularly arranged in long fibrils just beneath the plasma membrane.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 FASEB J.Home page
S. N. BHATIA, U. J. BALIS, M. L. YARMUSH, and M. TONER
Effect of cell-cell interactions in preservation of cellular phenotype: cocultivation of hepatocytes and nonparenchymal cells
FASEB J, November 1, 1999; 13(14): 1883 - 1900.
[Abstract] [Full Text]

Home page
 J. Cell Biol.Home page
G. F. Spath and M. C. Weiss
Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4 Provokes Expression of Epithelial Marker Genes, Acting As a Morphogen in Dedifferentiated Hepatoma Cells
J. Cell Biol., February 23, 1998; 140(4): 935 - 946.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1991