Question:medium
Which of the following is a primary cell line?
Which of the following is a primary cell line?
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Freshly prepared from tissue, only a few subcultures = primary culture.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Chick embryo fibroblast
- HeLa cells
- Vero cells
- WI-38
Show Solution
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: For growing viruses in the laboratory, cell systems fall into three groups: primary cultures taken straight from an animal tissue, diploid cell strains with a finite number of passages, and continuous lines that are effectively immortal. We must spot the primary one.
Step 2: A chick embryo fibroblast preparation is made fresh by dispersing chick embryo tissue and supports only a handful of subcultures before dying out. This finite, freshly derived nature defines it as a primary culture, marking option a as correct.
Step 3: The others belong to different categories: HeLa (human cervical cancer) and Vero (African green monkey kidney) are established continuous lines that propagate without limit, whereas WI-38 is a human diploid strain of lung fibroblasts that, while longer lived than a primary culture, still has a capped number of divisions.
Step 4: Therefore the primary cell culture is the chick embryo fibroblast.
\[\boxed{\text{Chick embryo fibroblast}}\]
Step 2: A chick embryo fibroblast preparation is made fresh by dispersing chick embryo tissue and supports only a handful of subcultures before dying out. This finite, freshly derived nature defines it as a primary culture, marking option a as correct.
Step 3: The others belong to different categories: HeLa (human cervical cancer) and Vero (African green monkey kidney) are established continuous lines that propagate without limit, whereas WI-38 is a human diploid strain of lung fibroblasts that, while longer lived than a primary culture, still has a capped number of divisions.
Step 4: Therefore the primary cell culture is the chick embryo fibroblast.
\[\boxed{\text{Chick embryo fibroblast}}\]
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