HYPOTHESIS Elastin-like protein (ELP) hydrogel helps maintain the three-dimensional (3-D) cochlear structure in culture. BACKGROUND Whole-organ culture of the cochlea is a useful model system facilitating manipulation and analysis of live sensory cells and surrounding nonsensory cells. The precisely organized 3-D cochlear structure demands a culture method that preserves this delicate archite...

An organ culture method for the maintenance of rectal biopsies over a period of 24 hours is described. Good preservation of histological architecture and continued crypt cell proliferation were shown over the culture period. The colonic enzyme alkaline phosphatase was found to rise over the period of culture. This rise was dependent upon continued protein synthesis by the cell. Changes in alkal...

In two epidemics of acute enterovirus conjunctivitis the diagnosis could only be established by the use of human embryonic organ cultures. In one instance cultures of ciliated respiratory epithelium proved sensitive to the virus but similar culture failed to support growth of the virus from the second outbreak which was isolated in organ cultures of conjunctiva. The virus associated with a thir...