Construction and identification of an immortalized rat intestinal smooth muscle cell line

Abstract Background Although intestinal smooth muscle cells (ISMCs) play an important role in the remodeling of the intestinal structure, considerably less is known about the molecular mechanisms that mediate the development and growth of ISMCs. A possible reason for this lag is the lack of cell lines that recapitulate ISMCs in vivo. Methods In this study, we separated the primary ISMCs from the rat intestinal tract and integrated the Simian Vacuolating virus 40 Large T antigen (SV40 LT) gene into the genome of the primary ISMC to construct an immortalized cell line named ISMC‐Hc. Key Results ISMC‐Hc proliferated persistently without any signs of senescence up to 50 passages and without neoplasticity. Analysis of the genome isolated from ISMC‐Hc confirmed that the SV40LT gene recombined in the genome, and mRNA reverse transcription PCR suggested that SV40LT could be expressed normally. In addition, ISMC‐Hc had few morphological differences compared with the primary ISMC. Furthermore, ISMC‐Hc showed the expression of the specific protein markers (alpha‐smooth muscle actin and desmin) through immunofluorescence analysis. Further studies showed that ISMC‐Hc had enhanced contractility and expressed the glial‐derived neurotrophic factor, nerve growth factor, ciliary neurotrophic factor, and leukemia inhibitory factor after co‐stimulation with IL‐1 beta and TNF‐alpha. Conclusions and Inferences ISMC‐Hc showed characteristics similar to that of primary ISMC and can be used as an in vitro model to explore the cellular and molecular mechanisms of ISMC. Additionally, the immortalized ISMCs could help investigate the basic functional mechanisms of intestinal diseases.