Chapter 5 - Selective Isolation of Epithelial Cells in Primary Explant Cultures of Human and Animal Tissues

Abstract

This chapter discusses the selective isolation of epithelial cells in primary explant cultures of human and animal tissues. There are many methods employed for the selective isolation of epithelial cells from fragments of human or animal tissues. Flaxman cultured pieces of human skin in plasma clots on coverslips and obtained outgrowths composed of epidermal keratinocytes in a proliferative state. Only 5% of the cultures exhibited some fibroblast outgrowth. Success in obtaining purified cultures of mammary epithelial cells occurred only when the collecting ducts were dissected free from the surrounding connective tissue prior to placing them in culture. Cole and DeVellis derived relatively pure populations of glial and nerve cells by culturing fragments of human and animal brain tissues between pieces of perforated cellophane in Petri dishes. The fibroblasts and other connective tissue cells migrated through the cellophane perforations to the floor of the dishes while the glial and nerve cells migrated and extended their processes between the two layers of cellophane. The pigskin technique involves the culture of pieces of minced tissue on pigskin. The cells that grew generally retained the morphological and functional features of the organ in vivo.