[Long-term tissue culture of normal and atherosclerotic human arterial explants (author's transl)]

A method for longterm tissue culture of human arterial explants is described. The explants of normal and atherosclerotic femoral arteries, removed immediately post mortem, were kept in culture for up to 14 days in a biochemically active state. Viability was checked by glucose uptake and lactate production, with daily changes of incubation media and sterility controls. Compared to the well established short term incubation systems where metabolic activity decreases progressively after 6 h, glucose uptake, lactate production and uptake of 3H-oleic acid are linear within 4-14 h. The highest incorporation of 3H-oleic acid is found in phospholipids, the lowest in cholesterol ester. But whilst activity, after the pulse label of 24 h, progressively decreases in phospholipids, it constantly increases in the cholesterol ester fraction as a consequence of the persistant cholesterol esterification.