Isolation of rat ventral prostate basal and luminal epithelial cells by the STAPUT technique

Abstract

BACKGROUND The prostatic epithelium consists principally of basal epithelial cells, luminal epithelial cells, and neuroendocrine cells. Several studies support the concept that among basal cells, a subpopulation of stem cells resides which is capable of giving rise to other stem cells, basal epithelial cells, and also luminal epithelial cells and neuroendocrine cells. Other investigators suggest that luminal epithelial cells can also regenerate prostatic epithelium. Availability of pure populations of basal and luminal epithelial cells will aid in studies on defining the cellular pathways of differentiation during normal and pathological conditions. This study was designed to isolate and characterize pure populations of basal and luminal epithelial cells from adult rat ventral prostates. METHODS Sequential enzymatic digestion and differential plating permitted the separation of glandular epithelial cells from stromal cells. The glandular epithelial cells were subjected to the STAPUT technique. RESULTS Two types of cell populations, a large single-cell population and a small single-cell population, were obtained and characterized as basal and luminal epithelial cells by immunostaining for cytokeratin 5 and cytokeratin 8, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that purified populations of prostatic basal and luminal epithelial cells can be isolated by the STAPUT technique. Prostate 41:173–180, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.