ISOLATION OF RAT PRIMARY LUNG-CELLS - CHARACTERIZATION OF AN IMPROVEDMETHOD

Lungs from female Wistar rats were enzymatically digested by stepwise recirculating perfusion through the pulmonary artery with various enzy mes. Lung tissue was microdissected, resuspended and the cells obtaine d were washed by centrifugation. The results showed that our primary r at lung cell culture exceeded the quality of other isolation methods w ith regard to cell yield and viability and that these lung cultures mi ght be representative of the cell mixture found in the organ.