Abstract
The rat mammary cell line Rama 25 differentiates morphologically in vitro from a cuboidal form to a fusiform cell resembling myoepithelial cells. This differentiation occurs in all clonal isolates of the line. By using three different rabbit antisera specific for Thy-1, we have found that antigenic differentiation accompanies morphologic change to the fusiform state. Very few cuboidal cells had Thy-1 detectable on their surfaces in the living state; but after acetone fixation cytoplasmic Thy-1 was detected by immunofluorescence in all cells of the cuboidal type. Thy-1 specificity was established by the fact that immunofluorescence induced by rabbit anti-rat thymocyte serum was abolished by absorption with rat brain but not with erythrocytes, kidney, or liver; immunofluorescence induced by rabbit antiserum to purified Thy-1 glycoproteins from mouse lymphomas was absorbed by Thy-1 positive mouse and rat lymphomas. Surface Thy-1 provides a potentially valuable antigenic marker in the Rama 25 line for studying the differentiation of mammary myoepithelial cells.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 6093-6097 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
| Volume | 75 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1978 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General