Studies on the characterization of bovine adipocyte precursor cells and their differentiation in vitro, using an...

Antisera with specific reactivity towards adipocyte cell surfaces were prepared and characterized. These preparations, absorbed to remove reactivities toward other cell types were used in an indirect labelled second antibody cellular immunoassay which distinguished bovine adipocyte precursors from fibroblasts and which allowed the progress of precursor cell differentiation in culture to be monitored with precision and sensitivity. The assay could be modified to use fluorescent, rather than radioactively-labelled, second antibody preparations and the changing reactivity of differentiating precursors to be visualized. Labelling of preparations in this way also allowed precursor cell populations to be analysed and quantitated using fluorescence-activated cell sorting technology.