Establishment of epithelial cell lines from rat glandular stomachs

Nine epithelial cell lines were isolated from glandular stomach cells of fetal and suckling JAR-2 rats after the elimination of mesenchymal cells by mechanical and colonial isolation methods. Those cells have been proliferating continuously in a typical pavement-like arrangement. In early cultures a part of focal monolayers of small epithelial cells died simultaneously ("contact death"). The cells of three lines (RGS-2,RGS-5 and RGS-8) formed hemicysts when incubated for several weeks without subcultivation. Addition of But2cAMP and theophilline into culture medium enhanced the hemicyst formation by RGS-8 cells. Some evidence suggested that those three lines were originated from mucous epithelium of rat glandular stomach. These epithelial cell lines would be useful in the study of chemical carcinogenesis in culture.