Organ culture

Organ culture is the cultivation of either whole organs or parts of organs in vitro.[1] It is a development from tissue culture methods of research, as the use of the actual in vitro organ itself allows for more accurate modelling of the functions of an organ in various states and conditions.[2]

A key objective of organ culture is to maintain the architecture of the tissue and direct it towards normal development. In this technique, it is essential that the tissue is never disrupted or damaged. It thus requires careful handling. The media used for a growing organ culture are generally the same as those used for tissue culture. The techniques for organ culture can be classified into (i) those employing a solid medium and (ii) those employing liquid medium.

Organ culture technology has contributed to advances in embryology,[3] inflammation, cancer, and stem cell biology research.[2]

  1. ^ Hoshino, Takao (1981-01-01), Fedoroff, Sergey; Hertz, Leif (eds.), Cellular Aspects of Human Brain Tumors (Gliomas), Advances in Cellular Neurobiology, vol. 2, Elsevier, pp. 167–204, doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-008302-2.50010-9, ISBN 9780120083022, retrieved 2023-03-06
  2. ^ a b Al-Lamki, Rafia S.; Bradley, John R.; Pober, Jordan S. (2017). "Human Organ Culture: Updating the Approach to Bridge the Gap from In Vitro to In Vivo in Inflammation, Cancer, and Stem Cell Biology". Frontiers in Medicine. 4: 148. doi:10.3389/fmed.2017.00148. ISSN 2296-858X. PMC 5601956. PMID 28955710.
  3. ^ McClelland, Kathryn S.; Bowles, Josephine (2016-04-01). "Culturing murine embryonic organs: Pros, cons, tips and tricks". Differentiation. New and Old Techniques in Cell and Developmental Biology. 91 (4): 50–56. doi:10.1016/j.diff.2016.01.008. ISSN 0301-4681. PMID 26988290.