Phenotypic plasticity of cultured bovine chromaffin cells. I. Morphological changes induced by non-chromaffin cells and organ extracts, but not by mouse and bovine nerve growth factor

Abstract

Adult bovine chromaffin cells are known to show process outgrowth in culture, similar to that seen with rat chromaffin and pheochromocytoma cells after exposure to nerve growth factor (NGF). To determine whether bovine chromaffin cells respond to NGF or NGF-like factors, dissociated adrenal medullary cells from adult cattle were cultured for up to 4 weeks in the presence or absence of NGF (from mouse submaxillary glands and bovine seminal vesicles, respectively), adrenal non-chromaffin cells and various organ extracts. Chromaffin cells that had been freed from non-chromaffin cells by differential plating and/or gamma-irradiation showed virtually no fiber outgrowth. In the presence of adrenal non-chromaffin cells (NCC), cell-free extracts obtained from these cells or medium conditioned by them, chromaffin cells formed processes. Extracts from bovine seminal vesicles (SVE), but not from other organs including bovine brain, heart, liver, kidney, adrenal glands and male mouse submaxillary glands, also elicited fiber outgrowth. Extension of processes induced by NCC and SVE could not be blocked by administration of monospecific anti-NGF antibodies directed against NGF from mouse submaxillary glands. Purified NGF from mouse submaxillary glands and SVE did not elicited a response. We conclude that adult bovine chromaffin cells in culture show structural plasticity similar to that shown by cultured chromaffin cells from other species, but do not respond to NGF. Neurite outgrowth promoting activities appear to reside with macromolecular constituents of bovine adrenal non-chromaffin cells and SVE.