[Primary culture of human gingival tissue cells in vitro]

In order to establish and understand the in vitro human gingival cell culture system, this study presents newly developed and characterized primary culture cell types derived from human gingival tissues. Cell cultures were established from human gingival tissues by means of the explant technique and monolayer culture. Cells were studied under stable growth conditions and were characterized in terms of their morphology, Giemsa staining, anti-epithelial cytoskeletal staining, and proliferative parameters. At confluence, disoriented fibroblast cells formed the multilayered culture. The epithelial nature of the epithelioid cells was confirmed by staining for cytoplasmic keratin which is an exclusive epithelial cell protein. The growth curve and cell doubling time of the fibroblasts were evaluated. The results indicate that both epithelial cells and fibroblasts can be cultured from human gingival tissue. This technique provides us with a stable source of normal cells for further in-depth in vitro studies.