Tissue culture of epithelial cells from urine. I. Serum-free growth of cells from newborn infants.

The growth of epithelial cells from the urine of newborn infants was improved by the use of serum-free medium and a collagen type 1 matrix present on the growth surface of the culture vessel. The optimal concentrations and components of the serum-free medium consisted of a 1:1 mixture of Dulbecco's Modified Eagles' medium and Ham's F-12 medium supplemented with insulin (5 micrograms/ml), transferrin (5 micrograms/ml), selenium (5 ng/ml), and hydrocortisone (1 X 10(-7) M). The use of this medium allowed clonal isolates to undergo 25 generations and 5 passages with a doubling time of 24-36 hr with retention of original cell morphology. The culture of epithelial cells from the urine of newborn infants may provide a simple, reproducible system for the study of inborn errors of metabolism, especially those not expressed in fibroblast cultures.