Tissue culture of normal and cystic fibrosis sweat gland duct cells. I. Alterations in dome formation.

The elucidation of the underlying defect in fluid secretion by cystic fibrosis (CF) sweat glands is hindered by the unavailability of an experimental model for investigating this disease. As a potential model system, a serum-free growth medium was developed that supports the explant growth of epithelial cells from fragments of human skin. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that these epithelial cell outgrowths originated from the duct of the sweat gland. By electron microscopy, the cells were demonstrated to possess keratinocyte-like morphology as noted by the presence of a multilayered outgrowth of cells containing well-defined keratin bundles. Identical outgrowths from skin biopsies of CF patients were compared to normal outgrowths and alterations were noted to occur in dome formation and in the number of intercellular spaces between cells. Doming alterations were also noted to occur in the CF heterozygous state. No differences in cell fine structure or in growth factor requirements for cell proliferation were noted between normal and CF cells. The potential use of this system as a model for CF research is discussed.