Cell culture is a fundamental research tool that enables scientists to probe the complexities of biology, establish drug development assays, produce recombinant proteins, and more. Choosing the most appropriate cell line to culture is often a balance between experimental need and accessibility.
Often scientists choose to culture immortalized cell lines since they offer several advantages, including perpetual growth and widespread availability. However, immortalized cells lines do not recapitulate the biology of normal healthy tissue-specific cells. Beyond the scope of investigating cancer, immortalized cell lines offer a limited purview.
In contrast, primary cells directly isolated from the tissue of interest provide a more realistic model of human health and disease because their physiology more closely resembles the healthy tissue from which they were extracted. Isolating cells from fresh human tissue is not practical for most laboratories and requires access to medical facilities or specialized approvals.
Tissue architecture is complex, comprising heterogeneous ...