Chapter 6 Establishment of Mammalian Testicular Cell Lines

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the establishment of mammalian cell lines. The germ cell-derived cell lines are obtained as tumor cells that grow readily when grafted in nude mice and can later be propagated in tissue culture. Several cell lines can be established from mice and human testicular germ-cell tumors called “embryonal carcinoma” and “teratocarcinoma.” These lines are useful because they provide a model system for the early stages of mammalian embryogenesis. However, because of their irreversibly transformed phenotype, they cannot be used to study normal germ-cell differentiation. Several methods can be used to introduce cloned genes on recombinant plasmids into mammalian cells. In the CaPO4 method, plasmid DNA is introduced into monolayer or cell-suspension cultures via a precipitate that adheres to the cell surface. There are limitations and concerns with respect to other uses of this in vitro system. Accessing immortalized germ cell lines and somatic testicular cell lines will enable a number of experiments that are either very difficult or impossible to do with the primary culture of testicular cells.