Cell proliferation in explant cultures of malignant gliomas

Summary Primary explant cultures were grown from human malignant gliomas. Ten-day cultures contained pleomorphic tumour cells with overlapping processes and contaminating elements, consisting chiefly of fibroblasts which grew in sheets of contact-inhibited cells. Cultures pulse-labelled with thymidine-H³ for one hour showed labelling in many fibroblast nuclei. Virtually no labelling was seen in the cells of apparent tumour origin. Most labelled cells were concentrated near the explant. Results are discussed in relation to the mode of outgrowth of the different cell types.