概要：NIH-3T3 cells, also known as Swiss 3T3, are a fibroblast cell line originally isolated from a mouse NIH/Swiss embryo.
This cell line is well-known for its sensitivity to sarcoma virus focus formation and leukemia virus propagation, which makes it highly useful in DNA transfection studies.
The mouse embryonic fibroblast cells were named 3T3 after the abbreviation of 3-day transfer, inoculum 3x10^5 cells.
The 3T3 cell line was established in 1962 by two scientists at the New York University School of Medicine, George Todaro and Howard Green.
They originally obtained their 3T3 cells from Swiss albino mouse embryo tissue.
They repeated the isolation procedure from the NIH Swiss mouse embryo when Todaro landed a principal investigator position at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and established the NIH-3T3 cell line.
The 3T3 cell line is a well-known example of the spontaneous immortalization of mouse embryo cells.
These cells can proliferate indefinitely in culture and are immortal.
The NIH-3T3 cells have a doubling time of around 20 hours and exhibit a spindle-like morphology when spread randomly on a chitosan surface.
When aligned on an OCMCS surface, they show an elongated morphology.
NIH-3T3 cells are contact inhibited and are sensitive to benzodiazepines.
They can be transformed with SV40 and some other polyomaviruses.
These cells grow as a monolayer, and a confluent monolayer yields 40000 cells/cm^2.
NIH-3T3 cells are not considered cancerous when injected into athymic mice.
However, if mixed with an extract of basement-membrane proteins and injected subcutaneously, they can form locally invasive and highly vascularized tumors.
The NIH-3T3 cells are also hypertriploid with a modal chromosome number of 68, which occurs in 30% of cells.
Higher ploidies are much less common, occurring at a rate of only 2.4%.
The 3T3-Swiss albino cell line, originating in 1962, is the original cell line.
A subclone of this cell line, 3T3-J2, is frequently used as a feeder for keratinocyte cultures.
Another subclone, 3T3-L1, serves as a model for adipogenesis.
The NIH-3T3 cell line is also derived from Swiss albino mice.
Finally, the BALB/c-3T3 clone A31 comes from BALB/c mice.
In conclusion, NIH-3T3 cells are an advantageous type of fibroblast cell line with numerous applications in DNA transfection studies and scientific research.
The cell line is characterized by its sensitivity to sarcoma virus focus formation, contact inhibition, and spontaneous immortalization, among other traits.
