Cation homeostasis and transport related gene markers are differentially expressed in porcine buccal pouch mucosal cells during long-term cells primary culture in vitro

The mucous membrane is composed of two layers. The layer of stratified squamous epithelium and the underlying layer of the connective tissue. The epithelium is composed of keratinocytes that are in different stages of differentiation, depending on their localization. In our research, after isolation of primary in vitro cultured buccal pouch mucosal cells, we observed keratinocytes in various stages of differentiation and fibroblasts. These cells, depending on the ionic dynamics, may be subject to different morphological and biochemical transformations. Understanding the expression profile of the normal oral mucosal tissue is important for further research into the effects of biomaterials on the mucosal cells, their growth, proliferation, and differentiation.

The porcine buccal pouch mucosal cells were used in this study. The oral mucosa was separated surgically and isolated enzymatically. The cells were in vitro cultured for 30 days, and after each step of in vitro culture (7 days, 15 days, 30 days), samples were collected for isolation of total RNA. The gene expression profile was measured using Affymetrix microarray assays.

In results, we observed genes belonging to two ontology groups: cation homeostasis and cation transport. These genes were up-regulated after 7 days of in vitro culture as compared to down-regulation after 15 and 30 days of in vitro culture. These results suggested that dynamic growth, proliferation and cell adhesion are more intense in the first 7 days of in vitro culture. We also observed, for the first time, the expression of ATP13A3 in porcine oral mucosal cells.