Comparison between adrenal, gonadal, and pituitary hormones on the behavior of rhesus monkey kidney cells in culture.

Recently, several studies have indicated that the use of Rhesus Monkey Kidney epithelial cells (RMKEC) in culture could provide significant knowledge regarding the alteration or dysfunction of kidney tissues that often resulted into kidney failure. The interrelationship between various steroid hormones, as well as, growth-promoting hormones such as growth hormone (GH) and RMKEC has not been fully investigated. The specific objective of this study was to investigate the effects of cortisol (C), testosterone (T), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), estradiol (E), and GH on the proliferation and viability of RMKEC in culture. The cell line was adapted to grow in Morgan, Morton, and Parker's medium 199 (with 1.68 g/L sodium bicarbonate) supplemented with 1% horse serum. A total of 30 tubes were plated with RMKEC and divided into six equal groups. In-groups 1-5, each well (n = 5) were treated with a physiological dose of C, T, DHEA, E, and GH, respectively. At 24, 48, and 96 hours the cells and supernatants were collected and stored for further analysis. The biochemical markers were assessed using lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), catalase, and malinodialdehyde (MDA). Data obtained suggest that: (I) treatment of RMKEC with C and DHEA resulted in an increase in MDA levels compared to the control and other experimental groups, (II) no significant increase was observed in LDH levels in all treated tubes compared to the control group, (III) higher proliferation rate was observed in cells treated with T compared to the control group. However, treatment with C showed suppression to the proliferation rate and no significant difference was observed between DHEA, GH and the control groups. In conclusion this study suggests that steroid hormones regardless of the source of secretion (gonads or adrenals) can influence the functional capacity of RMKEC in culture.