title: Studies on guinea pig skin cell cultures. V. Co-culture of pigmented melanocytes and albino keratinocytes, a model for the study of pigment transfer.
abstract: Mixed cultures of melanocytes (M) and keratinocytes (K) are easily obtained from pigmented guinea pig ear skin. They are suitable for the study of pigment transfer from M to K. However, quantitation is difficult because many K are already loaded with pigment prior to cultivation. A technique is presented in which pigment-producing M are co-cultured with K of albino origin. Pigmented guinea pig ear skin is split with trypsin and basal cells including M are harvested. The cell suspension is treated with sodium citrate which prevents the attachment of K (but not of M) to the culture substrate. Ninety per cent pure M cultures are obtained. Five to seven days later, another basal cell suspension is prepared, this time from albino ear skin. This second suspension is seeded on top of the pigment-forming culture of M. The number of contacts between albino K and pigment-forming M increases as a direct function of time. Contrarily, the number of K which become pigmented increases until the fifth day of co-culture and decreases thereafter.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002951:Citrates / Q000494:pharmacology; D004492:Edetic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D007633:Keratins / Q000378:metabolism; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000378:metabolism*; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014357:Trypsin / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D002951:Citrates; D010860:Pigments, Biological; D007633:Keratins; D004492:Edetic Acid; D014357:Trypsin