Growth stimulation of bovine endothelial cells by vitamin A

Retinol at concentrations of 10(-6) and 10(-5) M stimulated growth of bovine aortic endothelial cells maintained in Eagle's MEM supplemented with delipidized serum. In addition to retinol, retinal, retinoic acid, and retinyl acetate were also growth stimulatory. At very low inoculum densities (4-40 cells/cm2) the growth promoting effect could be demonstrated only in the presence of conditioned medium from macrophage-like culture P388D1. When added to media containing whole (nondelipidized) serum, retinol was growth inhibitory at 10(-6) and 10(-5) M concentrations.