Presence of adrenal medullary chromaffin cells in primary adrenal dispersions and their persistence in long-term culture.

Cell suspensions prepared by enzymatic dispersion of whole rat adrenal glands for the purpose of studying adrenocortical cells were found to contain chromaffin cells even though they are commonly thought to not survive in such preparations. These cells fluoresced when treated with methods specific for catecholamines. The fluorescent cells persisted in the cultures of "cortical" cells, took on the morphology of neurons in the cultures, maintained their specific catecholamine fluorescence in long-term cultures, and ultrastructurally were identical to chromaffin cells.