Long-term cultivation of canine keratinocytes.

The growth characteristics and morphology of canine keratinocytes grown in vitro were studied. Keratinocytes from canine oral mucosa, ear skin, and ventral abdominal skin were grown in culture either as explants or as dispase/trypsin-derived suspensions in the absence of a feeder cell layer. Cholera toxin and epidermal growth factor were essential to the successful long-term growth and propagation of the cells during multiple passages. Keratinocytes from all tissue sources, either as primary cultures or subcultivated for up to 10 passages, had growth characteristic and morphology similar to that reported in other species. The use of cultured canine keratinocytes should provide a suitable model for comparative in vitro studies of the pathogenesis of dermatologic diseases.