Abstract: To study the effective method of isolation、culture and proliferation of rat bone marrowderived dendritic cells(DC) in vitro. Methods: Nonadherent bone marrow monocytes were harvested by centrifugation and cultured in RPMI1640 with cytokines( rGMCSF and rIL4,5?ng/ml). Morphology, expression of special surface marker and functional ability were observed. Results: Morphomogical property of typical DC was observed in DC progenitors at day 10 of culture. Positive special surface marker of OX62 was observed with immunoflourense, and about 86% OX62+ cells was found by Flow cytometry analysis. To syngeneic spleen lymphocytes, the strongest proliferation of MLR induced by DC at day 10 of culture. MLR of syngeneic spleen lymphocytes was stronger than that of heterogeneous spleen lymphocytes (P<0.05). Conclusion: Improved Chen－Woan method is favorable in inducing and proliferating rat bone marrowderived DC in vitro.

Key words: Dendritic cell, Bone marrow, Cytokine, Rat, Wistar