Pharmacological responsiveness of dissociated native and cultured eccrine secretory coil cells

Methacholine (MCh)- and isoproterenol (Iso)-stimulated 14CO2 production was compared between freshly dissociated rhesus sweat secretory coil cells (mainly clear cells) and cultured cells (grown on a collagen-coated plastic plate) derived from native cells. 14CO2 production was enhanced by MCh and by Iso in native coil cells (but not in ductal cells) in a pharmacologically specific and dose-dependent manner. 14CO2 production in subcultured coil cells (19-45 days in culture) was only one-third to one-fifth that of native cells. MCh-stimulated 14CO2 production was inhibited by ouabain and furosemide in both native and cultured coil cells. A decrease in 14CO2 production, of about one-half, was already evident in primary cells cultured for less than 1 wk. The decreased pharmacological responsiveness of the cultured coil cells was seen, although the cultured cells showed the typical epithelioid appearance, abundant mitochondria, the occasional presence of intercellular lacunae resembling intercellular canaliculi, and the persistence of immunoreactive keratin. We conclude that 1) a primary culture of sweat gland cells can be initiated from dissociated cells; 2) cultured sweat secretory coil cells qualitatively, but not quantitatively, retain the pharmacological responsiveness and transport activity of the native cells as determined by 14CO2 production; 3) collagenase-dissociated cells represent an excellent in vitro system for the study of glandular function at the cellular level; and 4) the decrease in pharmacological responsiveness is not simply due to trypsin treatment during harvesting of cultured cells, because that of organ-cultured, intact, secretory coils also declines with time of culture.