Selective culture of different types of human parotid gland cells.

Abstract

Advances in salivary gland tissue engineering can benefit patients diagnosed with xerostomia. Complexity of the gland explains the urgent demand for a reliable protocol to isolate and expand various gland cells that can be used for further study. Three cells with different morphologies were isolated from the same human parotid glands using different culture medium systems and then were identified by the expressions from mRNA to the protein level. Among the 34 specimens, parotid gland acinar cells, myoepithelial cells, and fibroblasts expressing specific markers that belonged to individual cell types, were successfully isolated and expanded from 30 specimens without a complex mechanical process and expensive flow technique. The proposed protocol is simple with a high success rate to culture various gland cells, making it highly promising for use in future tissue engineering studies.