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Mammalian Cell Morphology

Regularly examining the morphology of the cells in culture (i.e., their shape and appearance) is essential for successful cell culture experiments. In addition to confirming the healthy status of your cells, inspecting the cells by eye and a microscope each time they are handled will allow you to detect any signs of contamination early on and to contain it before it spreads to other cultures around the laboratory.

Mammalian cells in culture present diverse morphology, such as:

  • Fibroblastic: cells are bipolar or multipolar, have elongated shapes, and grow attached to a substrate. One example is fibroblasts.

  • Epithelial-like: cells are polygonal in shape with more regular dimensions, and grow attached to a substrate in discrete patches.

  • Lymphoblast-like: cells are spherical in shape and usually grown in suspension without attaching to a surface.

Below you can see some other cell types:

corneal epithelial cells

In addition to the basic categories listed above, certain cells display morphological characteristics specific to their specialized role in the host. Neuronal cells exist in different shapes and sizes, but they can roughly be divided into two basic morphological categories, type I with long axons and type II without axons.

Four images merged into one. On the top left corner there is an image of fibroblasts in culture. The fibroblasts are elongated-shaped cells. On the top right corner, there is an image of primary smooth muscle cells in culture, which are spindle-shaped with a defined nucleus. The bottom left corner image is an example of primary human vein endothelial cells in culture. These kind of cells have a small, flat, and sheet-like appearance. Lastly, the bottom right corner image is an example of neurons in culture. Neurons have a branched structure, resembling a tree.

Figure 1. (1) Fibroblasts in culture. (2) Primary smooth muscle cells in culture. (3) Primary human vein endothelial cells in culture. (4) Neurons in culture.