Isolation of embryonic cell-lines from porcine blastocysts

The establishment of porcine (Sus scrofa) embryonic cell-lines directly from preimplantation blastocysts is described. The cells may be stably maintained on mouse embryonic fibroblast feeder layers without the use of conditioned medium. When placed in suspension culture the cells spontaneously differentiate into cystic embryoid bodies with ectodermal, endodermal, and mesodermal cell types. Culture of these embryonic cell-lines to confluence on feeder cell monolayers results in the morphological differentiation into fibroblasts, adipocytes, epithelial, neuronal, and muscle-like cells. The cell-lines have a normal diploid complement of 38 chromosomes. Scanning electron microscopy of the embryonic cell-lines reveals flat, polygonal, epithelial-like cells with numerous microvilli. The differentiation of these embryonic cell-lines into several cell types indicates a pluripotential cell. The establishment of embryonic cell-lines from swine should be useful for studies of cell differentiation, developmental, and gene regulation.