Epithelia suspended in collagen gels can lose polarity and express characteristics of migrating mesenchymal cells.

TLDR

Environmental conditions profoundly alter epithelial phenotype, shape, and polarity, as evidenced by changes in apical and basal surfaces. The study suspended various adult and embryonic epithelia, including anterior lens cells, within native collagen gels for detailed analysis. In collagen gels, differentiated epithelial cells elongate, detach, and migrate individually, developing mesenchymal‑like pseudopodia and filopodia, acquiring secretory organelles, and losing apical‑basal polarity.

Abstract

This study of epithelial-mesenchymal transformation and epithelial cell polarity in vitro reveals that environmental conditions can have a profound effect on the epithelial phenotype, cell shape, and polarity as expressed by the presence of apical and basal surfaces. A number of different adult and embryonic epithelia were suspended within native collagen gels. Under these conditions, cells elongate, detach from the explants, and migrate as individual cells within the three-dimensional lattice, a previously unknown property of well-differentiated epithelia. Epithelial cells from adult and embryonic anterior lens were studied in detail. Elongated cells derived from the apical surface develop pseudopodia and filopodia characteristic of migratory cells and acquire a morphology and ultrastructure virtually indistinguishable from that of mesenchymal cells in vivo. It is concluded from these experiments that the three-dimensional collagen gel can promote dissociation, migration, and acquisition of secretory organelles by differentiated epithelial cells, and can abolish the apical-basal cell polarity characteristic of the original epithelium.