Ex vivo culture of oral keratinocytes using direct explant cell culture technique

BACKGROUND: Culture of cells and tissues is a standard research method practiced in many laboratories. In most of the cases, these cultures are being used as substrates for cell products or as investigative tools for delving the mechanism of gene expression, cell proliferation and transformation. Primary monolayer cell culture has been beneficial to study the general biology of both oral and skin keratinocytes. There are two different techniques of primary cell cultures followed, which include direct explant and enzymatic techniques. AIMS: The aim of the study was to optimize the culture of keratinocytes obtained from patients with normal oral mucosa by direct explant technique. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Keratinocytes were isolated from 15 patients and were cultured in vitro and observed under an inverted microscope. The cultured cells were characterized by immunocytochemistry method using pan-cytokeratin. RESULTS: The total success rate of primary culture of the oral epithelial cells by direct explant technique was 88.6%. No contamination of microorganisms in the primary cell cultures was obtained. CONCLUSION: Within the limited numbers of samples used in the current pilot study, we conclude that the direct explant technique appears to be a simple and successful technique for the isolation of oral mucosal keratinocytes if we follow the appropriate protocol.