Fetal livers were excised from embryos at E12.5 and E13.5, respectively, washed in PBS and dissociated enzymatically for 60 min at 37°C. The digestion buffer (150 μl per liver) comprised 0.6 U/ml dispase I (Roche), 0.1% collagenase D (Roche), 10 U DNase (Roche), and 20% FCS in PBS. X-Vivo 15 medium (Cambrex, East Rutherford, USA) was added to the resulting cell suspension, and after centrifugation (200 × g; 3 min) cells were resuspended in X-Vivo 15 medium supplemented with 50 ng/ml macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF; Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, USA) and cultured on non-treated tissue-culture dishes at 37°C with 5% CO2. Every second or third day the medium was changed by centrifugation. Following withdrawal of M-CSF on day 6 after excision, adherent cells were cultured for an additional 24-48 h in X-Vivo 15 medium.