PARENCHYMAL-CELLS PURIFIED FROM XENOPUS LIVER AND MAINTAINED IN PRIMARY CULTURE SYNTHESIZE VITELLOGENIN IN RESPONSE TO ESTRADIOL-17-BETA AND SERUM-ALBUMIN IN RESPONSE TO DEXAMETHASONE

Xenopus liver was disaggregated by perfusion with collagenase. The released cells were separated according to their equilibrium densities on gradients of Metrizamide. Highly purified populations of parenchymal cells, sinusoidal cells, and melanocytes were obtained. All the parenchymal cells in an animal, before, during, and after hormone stimulation, are contained within a single density peak and subpopulations are not observed. Normal female parenchymal cells are less dense than normal male cells and estrogen stimulation causes a decrease in the peak density of the parenchymal cell population. Electron microscopic examination revealed the appearance and disappearance of lipid vacuoles in parenchymal cells following estrogen treatment. We hypothesize that the changing lipid content of these cells accounts for the shift in cell density. Immunofluorescent staining revealed that all liver parenchymal cells contain either vitellogenin or serum albumin, depending upon the prior treatment with hormones in vivo. Primary cultures of purified parenchymal and sinusoidal cells were established and were found to secrete different sets of proteins. The addition of estradiol-17β to cultures of parenchymal cells from either male or female frogs induces the synthesis and secretion of vitellogenin and two other polypeptides. Furthermore, the synthesis and secretion of polypeptides normally produced by parenchymal cells are curtailed as a result of estrogen treatment. Addition of glucocorticoids to a similar population of cells produces an increase in the synthesis and secretion of polypeptides, one of which is serum albumin. These results demonstrate that every parenchymal cell is responsive to two different classes of steroid hormones, estrogens and glucocorticoids, and in response to these hormones the same cells can synthesize and secrete alternate sets of polypeptides. © 1979.