Mouse dorsal aorta from E9.5 mouse embryos (C57BL6) was grown as an explant culture as described elsewhere (De Angelis et al., 1999). After 5 days the explant was dissociated into a single cell suspension, and plated at limiting dilution on a feeder layer of Mitomycin C-treated primary embryonic mouse fibroblasts, in 96 multiwell plates in complete medium, RPMI 20% Fetal Calf Serum. After 1 week, mesangioblast clones appeared approximately 2-4% of the wells. When the clones had grown to approximately 103 cells they were passed on gelatin-coated dishes, and further expanded. Clones D16 and D351 were used for microarray analysis. Keywords: other
