RAPID AND IRREVERSIBLE LOSS OF ESTROGEN RECEPTOR IN HUMAN OSTEOBLAST- LIKE CELLS FOLLOWING CULTURE IN PHENOL RED-FREE MEDIUM

摘要

Studies looking at the in vitro effects of estrogens on cell lines are often hampered by the fact that standard tissue culture media usually contain phenol red as a pH indicator, which itself has recognized estrogenic activity (1). To circumvent this,many commercial suppliers offer phenol red-free media, which are used routinely to obtain an estrogen-free environment for experimental purposes. As part of our ongoing studies looking at estrogenic effects on human osteoblast-like cells in vitro, we sought to ascertain the effect of prolonged incubation in phenol red-free medium on (a) sensitivity of the cells to 17 beta-estradiol (E_2) and (b) expression of the estrogen receptor (ER) gene and protein.