Oxygenation and adenosine deaminase support growth and proliferation of <i>ex vivo</i> cultured <i>Drosophila</i> wing imaginal discs

Abstract

The <i>Drosophila</i> wing imaginal disc has been an important model system over past decades for discovering novel biology related to development, signaling and epithelial morphogenesis. Novel experimental approaches have been enabled using a culture setup that allows <i>ex vivo</i> cultures of wing discs. Current setups, however, are not able to sustain both growth and cell-cycle progression of wing discs <i>ex vivo</i> We discover here a setup that requires both oxygenation of the tissue and adenosine deaminase activity in the medium, and supports both growth and proliferation of wing discs for 9 h. Nonetheless, further work will be required to extend the duration of the culturing and to enable live imaging of the cultured discs in the future.