title: Establishment and characterization of a normal melanocyte cell line derived from pig skin.
abstract: Several minipig strains develop spontaneous malignant melanoma. As a first step toward the analysis of genes involved in the tumoral progression of melanoma in these animal models, we developed culture conditions for pig melanocytes whereby melanocytes from normal epidermis can be isolated directly onto mitotically inactivated keratinocytes in Eagle's minimal essential medium supplemented with fetal calf serum, tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate (TPA) and cholera toxin. We also derived an immortal line of pigmented melanocytes from the epidermis of a healthy Meishan pig. This cell line, designated PigMel, retains differentiation function in culture, dependence on TPA and cholera toxin and a diploid chromosome number. PigMel melanocytes exhibit morphological and molecular characteristics common to normal mammalian skin melanocytes.
authors.affiliation: UMR 955 INRA-ENVA de Génétique Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Laboratoire conventionné CEA no. 17V, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, 7 avenue de Général de Gaulle, Maisons-Alfort cedex, France.
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Julé
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bossé
authors.forename: Giorgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Egidy
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Panthier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002455:Cell Division; D002460:Cell Line; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015870:Gene Expression; D008297:Male; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013552:Swine