EN
The mammary gland has been extensively studied for over a century. However, the major contribution to our current knowledge of mammary gland biology has been made mostly by studying the mammary gland of humans and rodents, while ruminant models have lagged behind. During the last years, a variety of in vitro approaches have been employed to understand the regulation of mammary gland growth and morphogenesis during different developmental and physiological stages. There are only a few immortalized cell lines of bovine mammary gland epithelium. Unfortunately only three of them are IGF and EGF sensitive, which is very important in mammary gland development in vivo. Monolayer culture models are easy and convenient to set up but they lack the three-dimensional microenvironment of intact tissue. This review describes the three-dimensional (3-D) cell culture system, which has recently been widely used. Bovine primary mammary epithelium cell cultures and some immortalized cell lines plated on an extracellular matrix form functional acini-like structures. This model mimics organization and differentiation of an intact tissue and can be very useful in the investigation of bovine mammary gland biology.