Growth of neonatal hamster skeletal muscle in culture.

Quantitative procedures for cell dissociation, selective plating, and growth conditions were adapted to neonatal hamster muscle in order to obtain cultures with a predictable evolution and sufficient differentiated myofibers. Normal and myopathic cultures were compared with regard to cell yield, myogenic cell fusion, and muscle differentiation. This technique is proposed for comparative studies of in vitro myogenesis in normal and myopathic hamsters.