Primary palatogenesis involves an intricate array of events. Cell migration, proliferation, differentiation, programmed death, and fusion occur. Prior to fusion, the morphology of the epithelium undergoes marked changes. Epithelial projections form and extend across the fusion site attaching by filopodia to the opposite prominenece. By appearance, the epithelium plays a critical role in facial development. In order to monitor epithelial activities, a study was done to isolate and characterize epithelial cells derived from the primary palate. The primary palate was microdissected from day 13 Sprague-Dawley rat embryos, and the epithelium and mesenchyme were separated by enzymatic digestion with a 3% trypsinpancreatin solutions. All explants were cultured in Dulbecco s modified Eagles s medium (DMEM) and Ham’s F-12 medium supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) 20 ng/ml epidermal growth factor (EGF) and antibiotics Explant cells were gathered by trypsin harvesting and sub-cultured. These sub-cultured cells were further characterized.

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