Isolation, culture and characterization of primary cell lines of human buccal mucosal fibroblasts: A combination of explant enzamytic technique

BACKGROUND: The cell culture technique has become a routine and a popular method for its wide applications in the field of cell biology and biotechnology and in medical research. Isolation of primary cells over the cancer cells is an essential component of cell culture technology as they are the reliable source to understand normal physiological, morphological and molecular process of human cells. As fibroblasts are the prominent cells of the connective tissue of oral mucosa, many disease entities and histogenesis are linked to fibroblasts. Culture of oral fibroblast cells helps the oral biologists and researchers to study the morphological and molecular process in the oral diseases. AIM: The aim of our experiment is to isolate and culture the human buccal mucosal fibroblast cells from healthy individuals using a combination of explant–enzymatic method and characterization of the cells by short tandem repeat (STR) profiling. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The tissue samples were collected from healthy individuals undergoing routine impacted third molar extraction. A combination of explant–enzymatic technique was used for the isolation from the tissue samples. The cells were further subcultured, maintained and stored as per the standard protocols. Thus, to confirm the oral fibroblasts of human origin and its uniqueness, they were characterized using STR profiling. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Using the combination technique, we were successful in isolating the cells at a faster rate by detachment of cells on day 3 and confluency on day 10. The morphological assessment and STR profiling further confirmed that the isolated cell lines resemble human fibroblast cells.