Explant Methods for Epidermal Cell Culture

Human skin epithelial cells grown in vitro from explants display the same organizational behavior found in vivo. Culture conditions found to encourage epidermal outgrowth from explants include minimal rather than complex media and supplementation of such media with 10% FCS, EGF, and hydrocortisone. The explant method provides a means of obtaining a large number of keratinocytes from a small piece of tissue. These primary cultures are useful in studies on the proliferation-differentiation process in skin and on the response of skin to various pharmacological agents, and in vitro transformation studies in which explants are potentially the best model for human carcinogenesis.