Fibronectin and retinyl acetate effects on attachment and spreading of normal and rheumatoid human synovial cells.

The action of two effectors - fibronectin (FN) and retinyl acetate (RA) - on cell attachment and spreading of human synoviocytes was investigated by adding these two drugs to the cell culture medium. No relationship was observed between the level of the effectors (FN = 20-80 micrograms/well, RA = 0.50-2 micrograms/well) and the biological effects studied. For normal human synoviocytes, fibronectin was less effective on the adhesion than fetal calf serum (FCS) present in the control culture medium; retinyl acetate, a drug acting on glycoprotein synthesis, led to similar effects to those observed for FCS-treated cells. In the case of rheumatoid synovial cells, the degree of adhesion was similar for drug- and FCS-treated cultures. Moreover, FN and RA had little effect on the spreading compared to FCS. Given these results, it would appear that synoviocytes differ in their behaviour from usual fibroblastic models.