Expansion of skin-derived mast cell numbers in serum-free media.
Dispersed skin cells, enriched with mast cells by Percoll density-dependent sedimentation, were placed into culture with rhuSCF (100 ng/mL) in either RPMI 1640 supplemented with CPSR-3 (○) or AIM-V (●) as described. Total viable cell numbers (A), percentages of mast cells (metachromatic staining) (B), and numbers of mast cells (product of total cell number and mast cell percentage) (C) are depicted. Each data point is the mean value from 3 separate experiments, each performed in triplicate. Error bars indicate the SD. When the total cell concentration in a well exceeded 2 × 106 cells/mL, half of the cells were either transferred to another well or discarded; cell numbers were adjusted to account for the cells that were discarded as well as those that were retained when cultures were split.
