'Explant culture' is a technique used for the isolation of
cells from a piece or pieces of
tissue.
In brief, the tissue is harvested in a
sterile manner, often minced, and pieces placed in a
cell culture dish containing
growth media. Over time,
progenitor cells migrate out of the tissue onto the surface of the dish. These ''primary cells'' can then be further expanded and transferred into fresh dishes.
Explant culture can also refer to the culturing of the
tissue pieces themselves, where cells are left in their surrounding
extracellular matrix to more accurately mimic the
in vivo environment e.g.
cartilage explant culture.
[1]
References
1. Orth MW et al. (2000) Cartilage turnover in embryonic chick tibial explant cultures. Poult Sci 79:990-993.