Cultured mouse epidermal keratinocytes provide a powerful model for studying epidermal proliferation, differentiation, pathogenesis, and oncogenic transformation. Primary mouse keratinocytes can be isolated from newborn mice, and their growth and differentiation can be manipulated by changing calcium concentrations in culture medium. Primary mouse keratinocytes proliferate in medium containing 0.05 mM calcium but cease to proliferate and start to terminally differentiate, when the calcium concentration in the culture medium is increased to 0.10 mM or greater.
