[Establishment of marginal cell culture from stria vascularis explants of adult rat].
OBJECTIVE
To establish a cell culture system of marginal cells(MCs) of the adult rat cochlea stria vascularis.


METHODS
The cochlea strial vascularised were isolated under a dissecting microscopy as explants, then culture in vitro to get the monolayer epithelial cells. Immunocytochemistry method and transmission electron microscopy could be used to identify the origin and characterization of the cultured cells. RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of IsK, an unique marker of MCs.


RESULTS
When grown on plastic dishes, cultured MCs showed a polygonal "cobblestone-like" appearance and dome formation, composed of several hundreds to thousands of cells. The characterized microvilli on the cultured MCs surface could be seen under the TEM. For immunochemistry, over 95% of the cultured cells showed positive reaction to cytokeratin antigen. RT-PCR detected the expression of the mRNA of IsK protein in the cultured cells.


CONCLUSIONS
The results show that a cell culture system of cochlear strial marginal cells of adult rat has been successfully established which can provide a stable source of MCs for ongoing physiological, biochemical and molecular characterization.
Li
Jun
J
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China.
Kong
Weijia
W
Chen
Min
M
Zhou
Changlu
C
D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002455:Cell Division; D005260:Female; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013316:Stria Vascularis / Q000166:cytology*