Evidence of a mixed population from uterine tube epithelium in a continuous line of pig cells.

The pig uterine tube (PFT) cell line is composed of a mixed population which is undifferentiated. However, specific markers indicating the original tissue of the uterine tube were shown if cells differentiated into epithelial cells forming spheroids in the 254th subculture. Ciliated and secretory cells, and cells with a basal lamina and interstitial collagen were observed in the spheroids. Microlumina found in the spheroids appeared morphologically similar to the lumen of the uterine tube. These observations indicate that undifferentiated cells can multiply in vitro and keep their potentiality of differentiation for future expression. It is proposed that the PFT cell line was partly derived from epithelial cells originally harvested from the PFT.