Authors : Mingchao Hao, Ben Liu, Jiangfeng Fan, Mingliang Wang, Peng Chen, Xudong Gao, Hua Zhang and Sijiu Yu
Abstract: A Yak Mammary Myoepithelial cell line (YMM) from the mammary gland of a lactational yak was established and maintained long-term in culture by continuous subculturing. YMM cells were maintained for >6 months (40 passages) in DMEM/F12 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum without obvious signs of senescence. When grown on a plastic substratum, YMM cells showed a distinctive stellate morphology. Moreover, the cells formed a monolayer but did not form contiguous membrane to membrane contacts when grown to confluency. YMM cells appeared to proliferate without changes in morphology or growth pattern before passage 15 with an estimated population doubling time of 66-68 h. However, YMM cells changed to polygonal-like in morphology and their population doubling time reduced to approximately 59-61 h after stored in liquid nitrogen for 3 months and cultured for 5 more passages (passage 15). Furthermore, YMM cells remained immunopositive to antibodies against α-smooth muscle actin, cytokeratin7 and vimentin which suggested that the YMM cell line was myoepithelial origin. Noticeably, YMM cells appeared oxytocin responsiveness when supplemented oxytocin in medium and incubated for 30 min. Karyotyping analysis indicated that the cells maintained a normal diploid chromosome modal number of 2n = 60. In the opinion, the YMM cell line would become a useful model to study cell to cell communication and the mechanism in mammary growth and differentiation and cancerogenesis.
Mingchao Hao, Ben Liu, Jiangfeng Fan, Mingliang Wang, Peng Chen, Xudong Gao, Hua Zhang and Sijiu Yu, 2012. Establishment and Characterization of a Yak Mammary Myoepithelial Cell Line (YMM). Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 11: 1028-1035.