Bicarbonate is required for proliferation of pulmonary endothelial cells

Abstract

RationaleThe second messenger cAMP is widely known to regulate proliferation in numerous cell types. Many of these studies implicate cAMP generated by membrane‐bound cyclases (AC1‐9). While these membrane‐bound ACs generate cAMP in the near membrane compartment, cAMP can also be generated in unique subcellular compartments by the soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC or AC10). Soluble AC localizes to the cytosol as well as organelles, such as the mitochondria, and is uniquely stimulated by bicarbonate to generate cAMP. Recently, AC10 was observed to be overexpressed in prostate carcinoma, suggesting a role for AC10 in cellular proliferation; however, the independent role of bicarbonate in proliferation has not been investigated. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that bicarbonate is required for proliferation of pulmonary endothelial cells.MethodsPulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs) and pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) were seeded at 100, 000 cells per well in media with and without bicarbonate. The cells were counted for seven consecutive days to generate growth curves and blood gas analysis performed to determine pH, pO2, pCO2, and HCO3− concentrations of the media. Additionally, a separate set of PMVECs were seeded at 100, 000 cells per well in bicarbonate free media and bicarbonate added back to the media after 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, and 168 hours and counted for five days following bicarbonate add back.ResultsGrowth curves revealed that PMVECs and PAECs seeded in the bicarbonate‐containing media entered into log phase growth followed by a plateau phase at cell confluence; however, PMVECs and PAECs seeded in the bicarbonate free media did not enter log phase growth nor reach confluence. When bicarbonate was added back to PMVECs initially grown in a bicarbonate free environment, the cells proliferated to numbers comparable to PMVECs seeded in bicarbonate containing media throughout the growth curve; however, if PMVECs were incubated in bicarbonate free media for more than 96 hours, these cells did not enter into log phase growth and did not form a confluent monolayer.ConclusionThese data reveal a requirement for bicarbonate for proliferation of pulmonary endothelial cells, since neither PAECs nor PMVECs formed confluent monolayers in the absence of bicarbonate.Support or Funding InformationNIH 121513This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.