Establishment of two chicken embryonic cell lines in a newly developed nutrient medium.

Two cell lines, named KCEK and KCEL, were established from chicken embryonic kidney and lung. The basal culture medium was newly developed and the cell growth medium consisted of K1999 supplemented with 10% heat inactivated chicken serum. Both cells were well adapted to grow in vitro and more than 50 passages have been made so far. Once the cell lines were established the cells were easily adapted to grow in other growth media supplemented with fetal calf serum. Neither tumor formation in chicks nor P52 avian leucosis common antigen was detected in these cells. However, the oncogene analysis on these cells has not been performed yet. Both cells were permissive hosts for the Aujeszky's disease virus, Newcastle disease virus, and vesicular stomatitis virus.