Preparation of Chinese hamster bone marrow and spleen primary cell cultures for sister chromatid exchange and chromosomal aberration studies

Abstract

Procedures for preparing and culturing Chinese hamster bone marrow and spleen cells for cytogenetic studies are described. Animals are killed by cervical dislocation, then the bone marrow is flushed from femora and tibia with Ham's F12 medium into centrifuge tubes. Bone marrow cells are collected by low-speed centrifugation (285 ×g). Approximately one million cells are cultured in a 30-ml Falcon flask with 5 ml complete medium containing 3.95 ml Ham's F12 medium, 1.0 ml fetal bovine serum (FBS), and 0.05 ml penicillin-streptomycin (5000 U/ml and 5000 µg/ml stock). Spleens are obtained aseptically, transferred to centrifuge tubes containing 2 ml of RPMI 1640 and smashed with a sterile spatula. The debris is removed, cells are collected by low-speed centrifugation (285 ×g), and washed three times with phosphate buffered saline supplemented with 2% heat inactivated FBS. Approximately one million cells are suspended in a 30-ml Falcon flask with 5 ml complete medium containing 3.70 ml RPMI 1640. 1.0 ml heat inactivated FBS, 0.05 ml penicillin-streptomycin, 0.05 ml of 200 mMl-glutamine solution, 1 × 10−5M 2-mercaptoethanol, and 0.20 ml lipopolysaccharide. For sister chromatid exchange analysis, 20 µM of 5-bromo-2′ -deoxyuridine is also added to the culture medium for 24 to 28 h for bone marrow cells and 36 to 40 h for spleen cells. These culture systems can also be used for chromosomal aberration studies.