The Reaggregation and Metabolism of Dissociated Adult Guinea Pig Cells in Filter-well Cultures

W h e n embryonic tissues are dissociated by treatmen t with tryptic enzymes, the individual cells are able to reaggregate to form the essential archi tecture of the tissue of origin (1-3). The variables involved in this aggregat ion p h e n o m e n o n have been minimized by Moscona (4) by subject ing the cell suspensions to controlled rota tory mot ion in flasks. U n d e r such conditions, embryonic kidney cells become organized into nephrogenic epi thel ium, renal corpuscles, and tubules (4, 5). This type of reaggregat ion is most pronounced with tissue from the youngest embryos, and the abili ty of the ceils to produce organized colonies declines with increasing embryonic age. The present paper reports results obta ined with a technique which was developed with the a im of main ta in ing dissociated cells in a viable bu t nonproliferating state, in condit ions which favoured cell-surface interactions. This was achieved by allowing cell suspensions of known n u m b e r to settle on Mill ipore membranes which formed the base of filter-wells set wi th in Trowell organ cul ture units. T he paper describes the reaggregat ion and associated metabol ism of adul t guinea pig kidney cells ma in ta ined for 6 to 10 days in filter-well cultures.