Hydrocortisone

HGE-20 cells [50 (link)] were grown in 50:50 DMEM:F12 (DMEM-Cellgro Mediatech, Manassas, VA, USA, F12-Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA) with 10% FBS (Gemini Bio-Products, West Sacremento, CA, USA) and 100 units/ml penicillin, 0.1 mg/ml streptomycin (Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA). HGE-20 cells were provided by Dr. Daniel Mènard, who kindly granted permission to use the cells for this work. AGS, HEK-293, A549 and MDCK cells (ATCC, Manassas, VA, USA) and HGT-1 cells [51 (link)] were grown in DMEM medium (Cellgro Mediatech) containing 4.5 g/L glucose, 2 mM L-glutamine, 8 mg/L phenol red, 100 units/ml penicillin, 0.1 mg/ml streptomycin, and 10% FBS. The growth media for A549 cells was supplemented with 20 mM HEPES. PC12 cells (ATCC) were grown in RPMI 1640 with 2 mM GlutaMAX^™, 10 mM HEPES, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, 100 U/ml penicillin, and 100 μg/ml streptomycin (Sigma) supplemented with 10% FetalPlex animal serum complex (Gemini Bio-Products). Human mammary epithelial (HB2) cells [52 (link)] were maintained in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS, 5 μg/ml hydrocortisone and 10 μg/ml insulin (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Dallas, TX, USA). Human gastric antrum tissue was obtained through the UCLA TPCL program with a non-human subjects IRB exemption.