Long-term culture of differentiated human thyroid tissue

Human thyroid cells obtained during surgery have been maintained in monolayer culture for at least 2 months and without loss of morphological or functional differentiation. Samples as small as 0.5 g could be cultured but best results were obtained with samples of 5-10 g. The technique used was developed in this laboratory for sheep tissue and was applicable without significant modification to human tissue. It depends on the complete absence of media changes at any time during the culture period. Energy substrates are replenished by the addition of concentrated glucose solutions to the existing media at carefully monitored intervals. Differences in both morphology and function could be observed between cultures derived from patients with different diseases, suggesting that the technique could have predictive value.