Establishment of gastric surface mucous cell lines from transgenic mice harboring temperature-sensitive simian virus 40 large T-antigen gene.

We succeeded in establishing two gastric surface mucous cell lines (designated as GSM06 and GSM10), which produce periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)- and concanavalin A (Con A)-positive glycoproteins, from a primary culture of gastric fundic mucosal cells of adult transgenic mice harboring a temperature-sensitive simian virus 40 large T-antigen gene. At the permissive temperature (33 degrees C), GSM06 and GSM10 cells grew until confluent monolayers were formed and have now been in culture for more than 9 months with regular passaging. Con A-horseradish peroxidase- and PAS-positive staining indicated that these cells retain the characteristics of gastric surface mucous cells. GSM06 cells showed temperature-sensitive growth in culture and expressed SV40 large T-antigen at the permissive temperature but not at a nonpermissive temperature (39 degrees C). In contrast, GSM10 cells showed temperature-insensitive growth and expressed T-antigen at both permissive and nonpermissive temperatures. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the establishment of gastric surface mucous cell lines from animals. These immortalized cell lines with normal characteristics may serve as good experimental models for the basic and applied biology of gastric surface mucous cells.