Open AccessVariations in the growth of adult mammalian tissue in autogenous and homogenous plasma
Author(s) -
Albert Walton
Publication year - 1914
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series b, containing papers of a biological character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9185
pISSN - 0950-1193
DOI - 10.1098/rspb.1914.0032
Subject(s) - biology , microbiology and biotechnology , embryonic stem cell , embryo , tissue culture , in vitro , chemistry , biochemistry , gene
In 1910 Carrel commenced his researches on the growth of tissues outside the body. In 1907 Harrison had succeeded in growing the embryonic tissues of the frog, using coagulable lymph as a medium. In 1910 Harrison and Burrows improved this method and successfully cultivated the tissues of mammalian embryos. Carrel has so modified the technique that the method is now applicable to the study of the growth of all mammalian tissues. He used as a medium the plasma of the animal either in its natural state or modified by the addition of various substances. Since then, he and his collaborators have published a large number of papers, and by their work it has been fully established that tissues of animals, whether embryonic or adult, grow wellin vitro ; that by changing the medium and so removing the catabolic substances life can be greatly prolonged—tissues have been kept alive and growing for periods considerably longer than a year ; and that the growth of the tissues can be greatly modified by the addition of various substances to, or otherwise altering the composition of, the plasmatic medium. In previous communications I have described fully the characters of the growth of adult mammalian tissue in primary and in sub-cultures. Having determined the nature of this growth, it became possible for me to investigate the variation, if any, of the growth in autogenous and homogenous plasma. The results of this investigation are detailed in this paper.