Arginine-mediated dissociation of single cells and cell sheets from a polystyrene culture dish

Abstract

Here, we report a novel non-enzymatic cell dissociation method, based on our finding that adherent cells dissociate rapidly from the polystyrene culture dish when incubated in an L- or D-arginine-containing solution. We also demonstrate the successful detachment of confluent NIH/ 3T3 cell monolayers from the culture dish as a cell sheet by the addition of an arginine solution.