Abstract

In vivo studies on experimental animals and humans raise serious safety, ethical, and judicial questions. Therefore, cell cultures obtained from experimental animals and humans are used for research. Cell cultures can be obtained from commercial cell lines, which are created by the immortalisation of cells, as well as from tissue samples of animals and humans, which are referred to as primary cell cultures. Primary cells give more realistic and reliable information with respect to their genetics and other features since they represent the in vivo condition better. On the other hand, there is a need for various laboratory techniques for the evaluation of biologic samples that can be obtained from both in vivo and in vitro settings. While the present paper discusses cell culture methods of the respiratory system, it provides general information on laboratory and molecular analysis techniques that are used in the health sciences. More detailed information is available from online or printed sources for those wishing to use them in their research.