Abstract
We report a simplified method modified from standard procedures for the production of long-term primary skeletal muscle monolayer cell cultures using collagenous for tissue digestion. When grown on the commercially available substrate Matrigel, such cultures are high in myotube content, remain attached to the plate surface after the initiation of spontaneous activity and do not need to be treated with mitotic inhibitors to control fibroblast proliferation. In addition cultures even more enriched for myotubes can be produced by selective removal of fibroblasts from Matrigel coated plates by collagenase. This novel procedure, along with the simplified primary culture technique, allows for highly reproducible results even for the inexperienced user.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Betz H, Changeux JP (1979). Regulation of muscle acetylcholine receptor synthesis in vitro by cyclic nucleotide derivatives. Nature 278: 749–752.
Bursztajn S, Berman SA, Gilbert W (1989). Differential expression of acetylcholine receptor mRNA in nuclei of cultured muscle cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci 86: 2928–2932.
Funange VL, Smith SM, Minnich MA (1992). Entactin promotes adhesion and long-term maintenance of cultured regenerated skeletal myotubes. Cellular Physiology 150: 251–257.
Goldman D, Carlson BM, Staple J (1991). Induction of adult-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene expression in noninnervated regenerating muscle. Neuron 7: 649–658.
Hartley RS, Yablonka-Reuveni Z (1990). Long-term maintenance of primary myogenic cultures on a reconstituted basement membrane. In Vitro Cell & Dev Biol 26: 955–961.
Martinou J-P, Merlie JP (1991). Nerve-dependent modulation of acetylcholine receptor e-subunit gene expression. J Neurosci 11: 1291–1299.
O'Malley JP, Mills RG, Bray JJ (1990). Effects of electrical stimulation and tetrodotoxin paralysis on antigenic properties of acetylcholine receptors in rate skeletal muscle. Neuroscience Letters 120: 224–226.
Rutzky LP, Pumper RW (1974). Supplement to a survey of commercially available tissue culture media (1970). In Vitro 9: 468–469.
Rubin LL (1985). Increases in muscle Ca2+ mediate changes in acetylcholinesterase and acetylcholine receptors caused by muscle contraction. Proc Natl Acad Sci 82: 7121–7125.
Salpeter MM, Spanton S, Holley K, Podleski TR (1982). Brain extract causes acetylcholine receptor redistribution which mimics some early events at developing neuromuscular junctions. J Cell Biol 93: 417–425.
Ternaux JP, Portalier P (1992). Influence of tongue myoblasts on rat dissociated hypoglossal motoneurons in culture. Int J Dev Neurosci 11: 33–48.
Sebbane R, Clokey G, Merlie JP, Tzartos S, Londstrom J (1983). Characterization of the mRNA for mouse muscle acetylcholine receptor α subunit by quantitative translation in vitro. J Biol Chem 258: 3294–3303.
Yaffe D (1973). Rat skeletal muscle cells. In PF Kruse Jr, MK Patterson JR (eds), Tissue culture, methods and applications. New York: Academic Press, pp 106–114.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
O'Malley, J.P., Greenberg, I. & Salpeter, M.M. The production of long-term rat muscle cell cultures on a Matrigel substrate and the removal of fibroblast contamination by collagenase. Methods Cell Sci 18, 19–23 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00123519
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00123519