Culture of Primary Adherent Cells and a Continuously Growing Nonadherent Cell Line

Cell culture is an invaluable tool for investigators in numerous fields. It facilitates analysis of biological properties and processes that are not readily accessible at the level of the intact organism. Successful maintenance of cells in culture, whether primary or immortalized, requires knowledge and practice of a few essential techniques. The purpose of this chapter is to explain the basic principles of cell culture using the maintenance of a nonadherent cell line, the P815 mouse mastocytoma cell line, and the isolation and culture of adherent primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) as examples. Procedures for thawing, culture, determination of cell numbers and viability, and cryopreservation are described.