Optimization of porcine urothelial cell cultures: Best practices, recommendations, and threats

Many experimental approaches have been conducted in order to isolate urothelial cells from bladder tissue biopsies, but each method described has utilized different protocols and sources of bladder tissue. In this study, we compared the different methods of urothelial cell isolation available in literature together with standardized methods in order to obtain more unified results. Five methods for primary porcine urothelial culture establishment were compared: tissue explants and four enzymatic methods utilizing collagenase II, dispase II, combination of dispase II and trypsin, and trypsin alone. The average number of isolated cells, cell morphology, success of established culture, average number of cells from the first passage, expression of p63 and pancytokeratin and the characterization of urothelial cell growth, and aging were analyzed during the in vitro culture. The method utilizing dispase II was the most efficient and reproducible method for the isolation and culture of porcine urothelial cells when compared to the other tested methods. Urothelial cells obtained by this method grew considerably well and the cultures were established with high efficiency, which enabled us in obtaining a large quantity of cells with normal morphology. Contamination with fibroblasts in this method was the lowest. The utilization of a proper method for urothelial cell isolation is a critical step in the urinary tract regeneration when using tissue engineering techniques. In summary, this study demonstrated that by utilizing the described method with dispase II, a suitable number of cells was achieved, proving the method useful for tissue regeneration.