A technique for culturing functional rabbit oviductal cells will be developed. Oviduct cells harvested after enzymatic dissociation will be grown on floating collagen gels. Growth characteristics will be determined by cell counting and DNA analysis. Morphological characteristics will be evaluated by light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. In corporation of 35S into the sulfated mucopolysaccharide component of secretion and the release of these materials into the culture medium will be used to evaluate the secretory activity of cultured cells. In the future I plan to use the culture system developed in this project for studies on the interaction of oviduct epithelial cells with gametes and and the early embryo. With a well characterized culture system it will be possible for me to study interations in a controlled environment.
