Study on the biological features of human epidermal stem cells cultured in serum-free medium / 中华烧伤杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish a methodology of serum-free culture of human epidermal stem cells in vitro, and observe their biological characteristics.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Epidermal stem cells were isolated from child foreskin and purified with type IV collagen. They were then cultured in regular medium (S group), serum-free medium (SF1 group) and bovine pituitary extract but serum-free medium (SF2 group), respectively. The morphological changes, clone counting, passage time, expression of surface alpha(6) and CD(71), cell cycle analysis, and the expression of cytokeratin (CK) 19, CK5/8, CK10 in each group were determined 20 days after culture.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was no significant difference in morphology, CK19, 5/8 and 10 positive cells between SF1 group and S group. The cells in these two groups could both form about 43 clones and be passaged for 10 times. About (48 + 6)% cells were alpha(6)(bri)CD71(dim) positive, (72.2 + 6.2)% cells were at G0-G1 phase, with similar expression of CK19, CK5/8, CK10. Despite more clone numbers were found in SF2 group, the levels of all other parameters were lower than those in S and SF1 groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Human epidermal stem cells can be cultured successfully in serum-free culture for the study of their biological characteristics.</p>