APPROACH TO AN ORGANO-TYPICAL ENVIRONMENT FOR CULTURED-CELLS AND TISSUES

If cells or tissues are taken our of an organ and put in culture, norm ally they lose morphological, physiological and biochemical features. This dedifferentiation process starts during the isolation procedure a nd continues during the whole culture period. Ir is caused by the stag nant liquid condition and the inadequate anchorage of cells at the bot tom of tissue culture plasticware. The use of filters as basement memb rane substitutes and tile coating of culture-ware with extracellular m atrix proteins improve the environmental factors for cultured cells bu t do not consider the paracrine influence of cytokines or the nutritio nal needs of individual cell types. To limit cellular dedifferentiatio n in culture, we constructed a new system, which adapts, as Snr as pos sible, cell and tissue cultures to an organo-typical environment. The system is based on a compatible cell carrier arrangement, which allows individual selection of supports for optimal cell anchorage and diffe rentiation. The cell carriers are placed in a newly constructed contai ner, which is permanently perfused with fresh culture medium. The syst em runs outside an incubator with simple laboratory tools; only a peri staltic pump, a warming table and pH-stabilized media are necessary. W ithout any subculturing, acute and chronic influences of drugs or the quality of medical implantation grafts can be studied over months.