CULTIVATION OF ADULT TISSUES AND ORGANS OUTSIDE OF THE BODY

Abstract

The solution of many problems of human pathology depends, in a large measure, on the finding of the still unknown physiologic laws of generation, growth and evolution of cells. We must, therefore, develop new methods which permit the discovery of these laws. A few weeks ago, we began to investigate systematically one of these future methods, namely, the cultivation of adult tissues outside of the body. The starting point of our researches was the beautiful work of Harrison on the embryonic tissues of the frog. Some years ago, Harrison observed the development of nerves from the central nervous system of frog embryos cultivated in a drop of lymph. In 1910, Burrows studying with Harrison improved very much this method and adapted it to embryonal tissues of warm-blooded animals. He succeeded in cultivating nerves and mesenchymatous cells of sixty-hour chick embryos. Then, at the Rockefeller institute, we tried to develop on