An improved primary culture system of pancreatic duct epithelial cells from Wistar rats.

Pancreatic duct epithelial cells (PDEC) are involved in most common pancreatic diseases. Primary cultivation of PDEC is a prerequisite for in vitro studies, in which in vivo situations can be simulated and molecular mechanisms investigated better than in cultured cell lines. However, some problems still exist regarding rat PDEC primary cultivation. In this study, an improved primary culture system of rat PDEC is presented. Some modifications, especially regarding specimen chosen, digestive control and epithelium purification, were made to simplify the procedure, increase cell yield, and improve epithelium purification. Cultures were identified as PDEC by morphological characteristics, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunocytochemistry staining with cytokeratin 19. In addition, growth characteristics of rat PDEC are described in detail. This improved technique, which is more efficient and cost-effective, will be useful for in vitro pancreatic studies.