Nuclear phenotypes of tenocytes obtained from primary cultures of rat tendon explants

Rat calcaneal tendons isolated from male Wistar rats, and cultivated on different surfaces were used to obtain primary cultures. Cells that migrated from the tendon explant and adhered to the culture surface were employed for establishing the primary culture.

In the third culture passage, an aliquot at a concentration of 2.5.10³ cells.mL-¹ was removed and cultivated in 24-well culture plates for 72 h. Thereon, the tenocytes were fixed in an ethanol-acetic acid mixture (3:1, v/v), subjected to the Feulgen reaction and image analysis for characterization of their nuclear phenotypes. These phenotypes were evaluated using parameters obtained in an Olympus microscope model BX51 (Olympus America Center).