Culture conditions allowing to modulate the expression of CYP3A4 in CaCo2 cells

摘要

The present invention relates to the field of the expression of biotransformation activities in cell culture systems. The present invention discloses basal and well defined culture conditions for CaCo 2 cells and therefore provide for in vitro model systems of the intestinal barrier as a tool in pharmaco-toxicology. In these model systems are most, if not all, biotransformation activities expressed in vitro, present, providing a model mimicking the in vivo reality. Under the culture conditions disclosed by the present invention, the expression of these activities, and especially the expression of CYP3A4, does not rely upon the addition of any inducer for CYP3A4 expression. These culture conditions further comprise the use of permeable culture inserts containing either a polyethylene terephtalate (PET) or an Anopore™ membrane.;Furthermore, the present invention discloses CaCo 2 cell lines which show an enhanced expression of CYP3A4 in comparison with their parental cell lines, when grown without the addition of an inducer for CYP3A4 expression.