Use of thermolysin for the dissociation of lung tissue into cellular components.

A method is described for the dissociation of rat lungs into individual viable cells. Thermolysin was perfused through the vasculature and trachea. The lung was then minced and further dissociated by washing with sequential additions of thermolysin. The results indicate this procedure to be an effective means of dispersing lung tissue into its cellular components. Standard trypsinizing procedures generally yield approximately 5 per cent of the total available lung cells whereas the thermolysin treatment increases cell yield 10-fold without significantly affecting cell viability.