Abstract: Objective To amplify and identify dendritic cells (DC) generated in vitro from porcine peripheral blood monocyte (PBMC) and study their immunological characteristics. Methods Monocyte-derived DC (MoDC) were generated by stimulating PBMC with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stumulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-4 (IL-4)，after 5 day culture，LPS (1 ug/ml) was added.Non-adherent cells were collected 5-8 days alter culture. Morphological features were characterized by phase contrast photomicrograph. The co-stimulation molecules, SLAII and other markers were assessed by FACS. Immunological functions were evaluated by means of mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) and ELISA. Results Porcine MoDC showed typical DC morphological features, phenotype were CDl⁺CD14⁺CD80⁺CD86⁺CD172a⁺SLA Ⅱ⁺; the expression of CD80, CD86 and SLAII elevated after LPS stimulation. Porcine MoDC showed potent allogenic T cell stimulatory capacity inducing a strong interferon-γ and IL-4 response. Conclusion Porcine MoDC were successfully generated in vitro by stimulating PBMC with GM-CSF and IL-4, that might be meaningful for the further research on tolerance induction and xenotransplantation.

Key words: Dendritic cells, Porcine monocle-derived dendritic cells