Summary
Epithelium from normal human endometrium was cultured as morphologically stable vesicular structures in a defined, hormone-supplemented PFMR-4 medium. The structures consisted of a single layer of polarized epithelial cells with the apical surface facing the external culture medium, and the basal surface resting on a well-defined basal lamina adjacent to the internal lumen. Vesicles were shown to (a) retain their viability for up to 3 mo. in culture, (b) to actively synthesize DNA after being cultured for over a month in a defined medium, and (c) to respond to steroid hormones. When embedded within a collagen gel, the vesicles reversed their epithelial polarity and formed branching, pseudoglandular structures. It was concluded that the three-dimensional shape of the epithelial vesicles had a critical role to play in their morphological stability nutient requirement, and hormone sensitivity.
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Kirk, D., Alvarez, R.B. Morphologically stable epithelial vesicles cultured from normal human endometrium in defined media. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol 22, 604–614 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02623520
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02623520