Brief Reports
Copyright ©2005 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 14, 2005; 11(18): 2838-2840
Published online May 14, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i18.2838
Dissociation, culture and morphologic changes of interstitial cells of Cajal in vitro
Chun-Xue Li, Bao-Hua Liu, Wei-Dong Tong, Lian-Yang Zhang, Yan-Ping Jiang
Chun-Xue Li, Bao-Hua Liu, Wei-Dong Tong, Lian-Yang Zhang, Yan-Ping Jiang, Department of General Surgery, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400042, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Dr. Wei-Dong Tong, Department of General Surgery, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400042, China. lichunxue1974@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-23-68757248 Fax: +86-23-68757248
Received: November 16, 2004
Revised: November 18, 2004
Accepted: January 5, 2005
Published online: May 14, 2005
Abstract

AIM: To study the method of dissociation, culture and investigate its morphologic changes in vitro of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC).

METHODS: Enzymatic digestion and Ficoll density centrifu-gation were used to dissociate ICC from the ileal segment of mice. Factors including contamination, Ca2+, Mg2+ and collagenase, and stem cell factor, etc., were investigated. ACK2, the antibody of c-kit, was used to identify the cultured ICC. Both light microscope and fluorescence microscope were used to observe the changes of ICC in vitro.

RESULTS: The method for dissociation and culture of ICC in vitro was successfully established. After 24 h, cultured ICC exhibited a few axis-cylinders, and longer axis-cylinders were observed to form synapse of each other after 3 d. More widespread connections formed within 7 d in vitro. The changes of its morphologic character were obvious within 7 d; however, there were no obvious morphologic changes after 30 d.

CONCLUSION: Many factors can influence the dissociation and culture of ICC.

Keywords: Interstitial cells of Cajal; Culture; Morphologic change