Postnephrectomy mesangial cells secrete a factor(s) that stimulate(s) tubular cell growth in vitro

Rat kidney mesangial cells were procured from 5 sham-operated and 10 previously uninephrectomized rats. They were grown in cell culture medium supplemented with 20% fetal calf serum. Cell free conditioned medium was collected on the 10th day. Tubular cell cultures were then prepared from 18 normal unoperated 3-week-old rats. Tubular cells from each separate kidney sample were grown in pooled-mesangium conditioned medium from sham-operated or from nephrectomized rats, supplied with 20% pooled serum from either sham-operated or nephrectomized animals. 3H-thymidine incorporation of normal tubular cell cultures grown in nephrectomy mesangium conditioned medium supplemented with sera from nephrectomized animals proved to be significantly greater than that of any of the other three experimental variations. No statistically significant difference was evident when either preconditioned medium of postnephrectomy mesangial cells or postnephrectomy serum were used alone.