Abstract
In order to assess the effect of temperature on the commencement of migration of adult tracheal epithelial cells, clumps of epithelium freshly obtained from mice were cultured at selected temperatures between 24° and 40° in chambers permitting accurate observation by phase-contrast microscopy.
As judged by the general appearance of the cells and the continued beating of cilia, it was found that this epithelium survived well at 24° to 35°, less well at 37°, and poorly at 40°. Emigration of cells from the epithelial clumps occurred most frequently at 33° to 37° at 35°, 38% of the total number of clumps showed spreading after 3 days. The incidence of spreading fell off sharply at temperatures below 33° and there was no spreading at 24° despite continued survival of cells with beating cilia. Migration rarely occurred from the poorly preserved epithelium at 40°.
It is suggested that the demonstration of such a limited temperature range for optimal migration of differentiated cells from adult mammals may be relevant to the healing of wounds, where an effect of the acute inflammatory response or of covering the wound may be to assist the migration of cells in the repair of the injury.