Isolation and culture of primary human nasal epithelial cells from anesthetized nasal epithelia.

Conclusion: Using a local anesthetic agent before obtaining nasal biopsies by nasal brushing makes the sampling procedure smooth, avoids lacrimation, nasal itching/irritation, and/or sneezing and provides enough viable cells to establish primary cultures.

Objectives: To examine the use of local anesthesia to avoid the irritation experienced by the subject when nasal biopsies are obtained by nasal brushing in order to culture viable nasal epithelial cells.

Methods: Nasal epithelial cells were collected from the mid-part of the inferior turbinate of healthy volunteers by brushing with interdental brushes, after spraying a topical anesthetic on the nasal mucosa. Immunocytochemistry was performed to assess the purity of epithelial cells.

Results: Cell samples ranging from 1.16 × 10(5) to 3.06 × 10(5) cells/per sample were obtained. Of 11 samples, 7 formed confluent cultures, while the remaining 4 samples showed only patches of epithelial cells. Neither fungal nor bacterial contamination posed a problem. Immunocytochemistry of the cytospin slides confirmed the presence of epithelial cells in the cultures. No adverse effects were experienced by the volunteers.