E-Book Overview
Expert scientific and clinical investigators present proven human cell culture techniques applicable to tissue samples taken from a wide variety of organs, particularly those prone to pathological change. They describe in clear, step-by-step instructions the special requirements for successfully culturing such human cells as T-cells, trophoblast cells, renal cells, natural killer cells, endothelial cells, neurons, epithelial cells, pituitary cells, and more. The protocols eliminate much of the chore of adapting techniques initially developed for animal cell culture systems or the time spent in hunting down potentially useful techniques buried in the details of research papers, or even in books largely devoted to animal cell culture. They allow researchers to use successfully high quality in vitro cultures as models to explore the disease process.
E-Book Content
Establishment and Maintenance of Normal Human Keratinocyte Cultures Claire Linge 1. Introduction Keratmocytes are the major cellular component of the eptdermis, which is the strattfied squamous epttheha forming the outer-most layer of skin. The keratmocytes lie on a basement membrane and are organized mto drstmct cell layers which differ morphologically and biochemically These regions from the basement membrane outward are the basal, spmous, granular, and cormtied layers. Cellular proliferation takes place mamly m the basal layer. On division, keratmocytes give rise to either replacement progenitor cells and/or cells that are committed to undergo the process of terminal differentiation These latter cells leave the basal layer and gradually migrate upward, simultaneously progressing along the differentiation pathway as they go. Finally they reach the outer surface of the epidermis m the form of fully mature functional cells, the corneocytes. The function of these mature cells is the protectton of the underlying viable