Primary culture of bovine mammary acini on a collagen matrix.

Lactating bovine mammary epithelial acini were isolated and primary culture on rat tail attached collagen gels are described. Acini rapidly attach to the gels and morphologically change little over days of culture under the culture conditions described herein. Cells release lactose, alpha-lactalbumin and alpha-s1 casein over a 6-day period. A new HPLC method for measuring lactose in mammary cell culture media is described. Comparisons of acini cultures with individual cell cultures show acini to be 1.5-5 times more productive than cells in secreting lactose and casein, respectively.