ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Nasal mucosa fibroblasts are reported to involve in inflammation and wound repair of various nasal diseases by secreting a variety of cytokines and chemokines. Guinea pig is a most suitable experimental animal for the study of allergic diseases. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effective methods of isolation, culture, purification and identification of guinea pig nasal mucosa fibroblasts. METHODS: Guinea pig nasal mucosa fibroblasts were isolated by collagenase digestion, and purified by differential velocity adherence. The morphology of fibroblasts was observed by inverted phase contrast microscope, fibroblasts were identified by vimentin immunocytochemical staining, and the cell growth was detected by MTT assay to draw the growth curve. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Under inverted phase contrast microscope, there were cells with different shapes in the primary nasal mucosa fibroblasts, most of which showed spindle-like and applanate shape, and cells were scattered distribution in cluster. The purified fibroblasts were homogeneous, mainly were long spindle-shaped, and distributed in fish shoal-like and radial-like. (2) Immunocytochemical staining indicated that fibroblasts were positive for vimentin. (3) The cell growth curve appeared to be typical S-shaped. (4) To conclude, the isolated and cultured cells exhibit typical biological characteristics of fibroblasts.