The effect of cultureware surfaces on functional and structural components of differentiated 3T3-L1 preadipocytes

Experiments using cultured primary cells or cell lines are a routine in vitro approach used across multiple biological disciplines, However, the structural and functional influences of various cultureware materials on cultured cells is not clearly understood. Surface treatments of cultureware have proven to have profound effects on cell viability and proliferation. In this study, we investigated the impact of polystyrene and fluorocarbon cultureware dishes on the proteomic profile of differentiated 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. After expansion and differentiation of cells on appropriate cultureware dishes, cell lysates were separated using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and proteins were visualized with Coomassie blue staining. Spots with the highest differential expression between the two culture conditions were subsequently analyzed using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry and the identified proteins were subjected to pathway analysis. We observed that 43% of all spots were differentially expressed depending on the cultureware. Pathway analysis revealed that glucose metabolism, mitochondrial structure and cell differentiation, represented by 14-3-3 protein-mediated signaling and the mitochondrial inner membrane organizing system (MINOS), were significantly affected by cultureware material. These results indicate that cultureware material can have a profound effect on key adipocyte functional pathways. These effects modifications of the cells should be reflected in the design of in vitro experiments and interpretation of their results.