Abstract: Objective To establish a culture method of mouse submandibular epithelial cells and to explore the optimal isolation and culture conditions so as to provide an in vitro experimental model for cell biology study and drug evaluation of salivary gland related diseases such as sj?gren's syndrome. Methods Collagenase type IV was used to digest and isolate the submandibular cells of mice. And the survival rate of cells was determined by trypan blue staining. After purified by differential attachment method, the cells were cultured in F-12/DMEM medium containing 10 μg/L epidermal growth factor. Optical microscope was applied to observe the morphology of the cultured cells and the cell proliferation feature was estimated by proliferation curve. In addition, immunofluorescence staining was conducted to identify the cells. Results The cell survival rate obtained by collagenase digestion was 97.5%. The morphology characteristic showed the typical epithelioid with polygon in the arrangement of typical “pebble stone” appearance. The cells were stable in growth with active proliferation according to the proliferation curve and could be subcultured to three passages. Immunofluorescence results showed that the expression of cytokeratin 8 was positive while vimentin was negative, which was consistent with the phenotypic characteristics of salivary gland cells. Conclusions The method of primary culture and subculture of mouse submandibular epithelial cells was successfully established. The method is simple and convenient, which provide a technical basis for further experimental study.

Key words: submandibular epithelial cells, culture in vitro, sj?gren's syndrome