Insulin as a cellular growth regulator of rat arterial smooth muscle cells in vitro.

Smooth muscle cells were grown from thoracic aortas of rats. The effect of insulin on the proliferation of these cells was studied by comparing the growth of cells in culture medium containing insulin and 1% fetal calf serum with growth of cells in culture medium containing only 1% serum and in culture medium containing 10% serum. Insulin in concentrations of 10, 50, 100, 1000 and 10 000 microunits/ml induced smooth muscle cells to stationary growth more rapidly than basal medium. This could be demonstrated as well in the logarithmic growth as in confluent cells grown in medium with 1% serum. However, the highest concentration of insulin did not stimulate growth to the same degree as medium containing 10% serum. Cells that were older in culture life (11th passage) did not show a growth response to insulin.