The Journal of Cell Biology, Vol 101, 1175-1181, Copyright © 1985 by The Rockefeller University Press
Cells that emerge from embryonic explants produce fibers of type IV collagen
JM Chen and CD Little
Double immunofluorescence staining experiments designed to examine the
synthesis and deposition of collagen types I and IV in cultured explants of
embryonic mouse lung revealed the presence of connective tissue-like fibers
that were immunoreactive with anti-type IV collagen antibodies. This
observation is contrary to the widely accepted belief that type IV collagen
is found only in sheet-like arrangements beneath epithelia or as a
sheath-like layer enveloping bundles of nerve or muscle cells. The
extracellular matrix produced by cells that migrate from embryonic mouse
lung rudiments in vitro was examined by double indirect immunofluorescence
microscopy. Affinity-purified monospecific polyclonal antibodies were used
to examine cells after growth on glass or native collagen substrata. The
data show that embryonic mesenchymal cells can produce organized fibers of
type IV collagen that are not contained within a basement membrane, and
that embryonic epithelial cells deposit fibers and strands of type IV
collagen beneath their basal surface when grown on glass; however, when
grown on a rat tail collagen substratum the epithelial cells produce a fine
meshwork. To our knowledge this work represents the first report that type
IV collagen can be organized by cells into a fibrous extracellular matrix
that is not a basement membrane.
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