Study of the products secreted by pancreatic ductal cells and analysis of the mechanisms involved in the discharge of these products have been limited by a lack of in vitro models available to experimentally approach this problem. To this aim, this investigation has been designed to determine if a human pancreatic carcinoma cell line of ductal origin (PANC-1) has maintained some of the differentiated characteristics of normal mammalian pancreatic ductal epithelium. Morphological and immunocytochemical studies indicated that, similar to isolated rat pancreatic ducts, the PANC-1 cell line contained (a) intermediate filaments of the epithelial class, (b) a basolateral plasma membrane localization of N a + , KC-ATPase, (c) complete tight junctions based on freeze-fracture analysis, (d) a cuboidal morphology when grown on Type I collagen-coated nitrocellulose filters or isolated amnion basement membrane, and (e) normal ductal epithelial ultrastructural features. Biochemical analysis indicated that, also similar to isolated rat and human pancreatic ducts, the PANC-1 cell line contained (a) y-glutamyltranspeptidase, (b) carbonic anhydrase, and (c) N a + , K+-ATPase based on [3H]ouabain binding assays. Comparative studies with other transformed lines indicated that PANC-1 cells have similarities to ductal lines such as MDCK cells but are markedly different from mesenchymally derived lines such as L cells. In addition, as with isolated rat and human ducts, PANC-1 cells synthesize and secrete sulfated proteins with a MW range of -180K to 1 million daltons, with the predominant species being 660K daltons as indicated by gel filtration and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These results indicate that the PANC-1 cell line has maintained at least some of the differentiated characteristics of normal pancreatic ductal epithelial cells and may be a useful system for study of ductal secretory products as well as the mechanisms involved in the discharge of these products.

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Pancreatic ductal cell secretion has not been well characterized due to the difficulty in obtaining sufficient quantities of purified ductal cells. To determine if the MIA PaCa-2 cell line would provide a useful model for in vitro studies of pancreatic ductal cell secretion, the present study was designed to characterize these cells in greater detail. In this investigation, the human pancreatic undifferentiated cell line, MIA PaCa-2, was compared with PANC-1 cells (a human ductal cell line previously characterized), isolated rat and human ducts, acinar cells, and nonpancreatic cell lines. The results indicate that while the morphology of the MIA PaCa-2 cell line is nonpolarized and generally atypical of either ductal or acinar cells, the cell line has retained certain biochemical similarities to ductal cells. Additional morphological studies indicated (a) the presence of intermediate filaments characteristic of epithelial cells, (b) the absence of zymogen granules, and (c) an apparent basolateral plasma membrane localization of Na+ , K+-ATPase. Similar to ductal cells, biochemical analyses indicated (a) the presence of N a + , K+-ATPase based on [3H]-ouabain binding assays, (b) high levels of carbonic anhydrase, (c) low levels of y-glutamyl transpeptidase, (d) nondetectable levels of amylase, and (e) protein composition and protein synthetic patterns comparable to PANC-1 cells. Finally, as with PANC-1 cells and isolated rat and human ducts, the major sulfated secretory product of MIA PaCa-2 cells was a protein with a molecular weight of approximately 660,000 to 1 million. These results suggest that while the MIA PaCa-2 cell line can be used to study pancreatic ductal cell secretion, it possesses less ductal-like characteristics than observed with the PANC-1 cell line.

We investigated the distribution ofNa ,K-ATPase in rat exocrine pancreas. By use ofenzymatic dissociation techniques, panaeatic acini (containing acinar cells and centroacinar ductal cells in a ratio ofabeut 101) and all major classes of pancreatic ducts were isolated and analyzed for the presence of Na ,K-ATPase using K-NPPase cytochemistry and [3H]ouabain binding assays. Ultrastructural analysis demonstrated a basolateral localization ofouabain-sensitive enzyme activity in all dasses of pancreatic ducts, although the degree of activity varied among the various dasses. Qualitative analysis (scale of 0 to + + +) indicated the following enzyme distribution: centroacinar ductal cells (+); intralobular ducts (+ +); interlobular ducts (+ + +); main duct (+ +). In contrast, no reaction product was associated with pancreatic acinar cells even when observed adjacent to enzyme-positive

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