Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. May 27, 2020; 12(5): 226-235
Published online May 27, 2020. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v12.i5.226
Effect of cholesterol on in vitro cultured interstitial Cajal-like cells isolated from guinea pig gallbladders
Bei-Bei Fu, Jin-Huang Xu, Shuo-Dong Wu, Ying Fan
Bei-Bei Fu, Department of Health Management, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Jin-Huang Xu, Shuo-Dong Wu, Ying Fan, Department of General Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Fu BB and Xu JH designed and performed the experiments; Wu SD analyzed the data; Fu BB and Fan Y wrote the paper.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81000183; the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province, No. 20180550125.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The study protocol obtained the Affidavit of Approval of Animal Use Protocol of Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ying Fan, MD, PhD, Doctor, Professor, Department of General Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, 36 Sanhao Street, Heping District, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China. coolingpine78@163.com
Received: December 18, 2019
Peer-review started: December 18, 2019
First decision: January 6, 2020
Revised: March 13, 2020
Accepted: April 18, 2020
Article in press: April 18, 2020
Published online: May 27, 2020
Processing time: 161 Days and 4.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Loss and/or dysfunction of interstitial Cajal-like cells (ICLCs) in the gallbladder may promote cholesterol gallstone formation by decreasing gallbladder motility.

AIM

To study the effect of cholesterol on the proliferation and apoptosis of ICLCs from guinea pig gallbladders.

METHODS

Guinea pig gallbladder ICLCs were isolated and cultured in vitro. The cells were exposed to cholesterol solutions at different concentrations (0, 25, 50, and 100 mg/L) for 24 h. Then, cell proliferation was detected by the CCK-8 method and the apoptosis rate was detected by flow cytometry. Further, the expression of the c-Kit protein was detected by Western blot and the expression level of c-Kit mRNA in the cells was detected by real-time quantitative PCR.

RESULTS

After ICLCs were cultured with cholesterol at concentrations of 25, 50, and 100 mg/L, the proliferation rates decreased significantly (P < 0.05), whereas the apoptosis rates increased significantly (P < 0.05). Moreover, the expression of c-Kit protein and mRNA decreased significantly (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

High cholesterol concentrations can inhibit the proliferation of ICLCs and promote apoptosis. This decrease in the ICLC proliferation rate might be caused by the inhibition of the stem cell factor/c-Kit signaling pathway.

Keywords: Interstitial Cajal-like cells; Cholesterol; Apoptosis; c-Kit

Core tip: Interstitial Cajal-like cells (ICLCs) in the gallbladder have been reported to play an important role in the regulation of gallbladder motility. Loss and/or dysfunction of ICLCs may contribute to motion abnormality of the gallbladder and promote cholesterol gallstone formation. Absorption of supersaturated cholesterol in bile by the gallbladder wall might be the cause of reductions in gallbladder ICLCs. This study evaluated the effect of cholesterol on the proliferation and apoptosis of ICLCs from guinea pig gallbladders. We found that high concentrations of cholesterol can inhibit the proliferation of ICLCs and promote apoptosis. This decrease in the ICLC proliferation rate might be caused by the inhibition of the stem cell factor/c-Kit signaling pathway. ICLCs may serve as an alternative treatment target for preventing cholesterol gallstones.