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Updated: Jul 18, 2026
Primary Culture of Rat Adrenocortical Cells and Assays of Steroidogenic Functions
Published on: March 12, 2019
Serum-free cultures of murine adrenal cortical cells
Yinting Chu1, Benjamin M Wu, Edward R McCabe
1Department of Bioengineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Purpose:
The feasibility of culturing murine adrenal cortical cells before transplantation was investigated in this study.
Method:
Primary murine adrenal cortical cells were maintained in either fetal bovine and horse sera-containing media or serum-free media. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify the levels of adrenal cortical gene expression in the cultured cells.
Results:
The use of sera-containing media led to the growth of many cells in the culture, but the expression of Sf-1, Dax-1, and Cyp11b1 in such cultures declined rapidly. In contrast, there was no significant cell growth in the serum-free culture medium. Culturing murine adrenal cortical cells in the serum-free medium resulted in higher levels of Sf-1, Dax-1, and Cyp11b1 gene expression. In the serum-free medium, adrenal cortical cells also responded to adrenocorticotropic hormone by increasing the expression of Cyp11b1 and suppressing the expression of Dax-1 in a dose-dependent manner. The addition of basic fibroblast growth factor to the serum-free medium maintained the expression of Sf-1, Dax-1, and Cyp11b1 for 4 weeks.
Conclusion:
Adrenal cortical cells isolated from adult mice were successfully maintained in a serum-free culture medium with basic fibroblast growth factor. This culture system may be suitable for further manipulation of adrenal cortical cells in vitro before transplantation.
