Prescreening for environmental teratogens using cultured mesenchymal cells from the human embryonic palate.

Mesenchymal cells from the prefusion human embryonic palate have been established in culture and can be grown in either a serum-free hormone-supplemented medium or a serum-containing medium. The growth of these cells is quite rapid in culture and inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by most teratogens thus far tested, such as dexamethasone. These cells are highly sensitive to a variety of DNA synthetic and mitotic inhibitors. The responses of these cells are complementary to the ovarian tumor cell attachment assay of Braun et al [1, and in this volume]. When used in conjunction with the tumor cells, the overall reliability is greater than 90% with only one false-negative, allopurinol.