title: Establishment of gerbil epidermal cell culture and comparative analysis of the behaviour of these cells with cultured mouse epidermal cells.
abstract: The culturing of gerbil epidermal cells is described for the first time. Cells grew first as clumps, formed monolayers of proliferating basal cells and then differentiated, giving rise to a stratified epithelium. To regulate the process of proliferation and differentiation, two kinds of medium were used: the standard one and a low-Ca++ medium. Under these two conditions, cultured gerbil cells were compared with mouse epidermal cell cultures. The cultures maintained in the low-Ca++ medium showed greater differences between the two species, the gerbil epidermal cells displaying a greater proliferative capacity and maintained capacity to differentiate, than did the murine cells. It is believed that this in vitro model may lead to a better understanding of the difference between the two species in vivo, and might explain their differing susceptibility to cutaneous tumour induction.
authors.affiliation: Basic Research Centre, National Cancer Institute, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Folly
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Arcuri
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Rumjanek
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000502:physiology; D002455:Cell Division; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003470:Culture Media; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D005260:Female; D005849:Gerbillinae / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D002118:Calcium