Gene expression of rat PSCs cultured on plastic, matrigel and collagen

Activated pancreatic stellate cells produce the fibrotic matrix in chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. In vitro protocols examining PSC biology have usually involved PSCs cultured on plastic, a non-physiological surface. However, PSCs cultured on physiological matrices e.g. MatrigelTM (normal basement membrane) and collagen (fibrotic pancreas), may have distinctly different behaviours compared to cells cultured on plastic. Therefore, we aimed to compare PSC gene expression after culture on plastic, MatrigelTM and collagen I. Total RNA from stellate cells in 10 cm Petri dishes was isolated by Qiagen RNeasy Mini Plus kit as per manufacturer’s instructions. The Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer (Agilent Technologies Inc. Santa Clara, CA) was used for quality control of the isolated total RNA. Gene expression profiles of rat PSCs cultured on MatrigelTM, collagen I and plastic were analysed by whole rat genome microarray purchased from Affymetrix (Rat Gene 1.0 ST Array). This array was able to detect 27,342 rat genes, with approximately 26 probes on average per gene (referred to as a probe set).