EPITHELIAL SKIN TUMOURS AND NORMAL SKIN EPITHELIUM IN TISSUE CULTURE

In a nutrition medium suitable for culturing epithelial tissue, cultures of normal skin, of basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma were grown. Some characteristic differences in growth and morphology of the epithelial cells are apt to distinguish the three tissues in the cultures. 1. Normal skin epithelium grew in close apposition alternating with patches of cells in loose contact with large intercellular bridges. Spines were numerous. If there was a naevus cell naevus connected with tissue of skin, cultures grew more intensively, and large intercellular bridges were rare. 2. The basal cell carcinoma grew out in closely connected tissue, which was cone-shaped. No large intercellular bridges were visible, and only a few spines. Atypical fibroblasts grew in all the cultures. 3. The squamous cell carcinoma was characterized by remarkable differences in the size of cells and by its early dissociated epithelial tissue in which numerous large intercellular bridges, as well as spines, could be seen. An interpretation of the difference in the formation of spines and large intercellular bridges in the cultures has been tried. © 1968 Springer-Verlag.