The aim of this study was to assess the human cell line
NCI-N87 as a model for gastrointestinal permeability of drug trials in pH conditions of the stomach. Optimal conditions that NCI-N87 cells resulted in a typical differential stomach to form the epithelial barrier, have a seeding rate of 2.5 x 10⁵ cells / cm² on porous and deposits growth in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented serum in 18- 27 days after confluence. The resulting cell monolayers have electrical resistance (TEER) moderately high values of transepithelial of about 500 Ω cm, the cells expressing the polygonal morphology E-cadherin and ZO-1 proteins on their contact surfaces, and mucus production clusters . Monolayers resisted set to 3.0 with the pH 7.4 apical base pH 7.4. The apparent permeability coefficient (P (APP)) model compounds were evaluated in the apical to basolateral and apical to basolateral direction under different pH gradient. The monolayers were impervious to the yellow marker lucifer integrity (low P (app) from 0.3 to 1.1 × 10⁻⁶ cm / s). Furosemide P (APP) (0.4-1.5 × 10⁻⁵ cm / s) were slightly pH dependent, but remained moderate. Caffeine P (app) (4.2 5.0 x 10⁻⁵ cm / s) were higher and insensitive to pH variations. The cell line NCI-N87 provides a useful tool in gastrointestinal medicine in vitro to evaluate the permeability and absorption in the physiological conditions in the human stomach.
