The viability of fetal skin of abortuses induced by saline or prostaglandin.

An attempt to culture fetal skin and underlying tissue from the buttocks of 31 abortuses induced by prostaglandin F-2-alpha and 10 saline induced abortuses was made. The specimens were either stored under refrigeration until the following day or immediately implanted into a minimum essential medium supplemented with 20% calves serum and antibodies and incubated in a CO2 environment. 2/3 of the prostaglandin group grew successfully while none of the saline injected group grew in culture, even after 3-4 weeks. Inexplicably, tissue stored between 12-24 hours before culture showed the highest failure rate. Careless handling of tissue probably caused many of the failures. For abortuses which must be cultured for diagnostic purposes, F-2-alpha is preferable.