AN IN-VITRO APPROACH TO RUMINANT MAMMARY-GLAND BIOLOGY

This review discusses both fundamental and applied in vitro studies on ruminant mammary gland biology and summarizes progress made over the last decade in development of in vitro techniques to study growth, fun ction and pathology of the mammary gland. The advantages and limitatio ns of different in vitro systems are considered including explant cult ures, primary cell cultures and immortalized lines of mammary-derived cells from cow, sheep and goat. The cell growth, differentiation and r esponse to lactogenic hormones and growth factors are discussed as wel l as the relevance of the cell behavior in different culture condition s. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.