Xenograph - how to maintain cell viability? - (Apr/06/2011 )

I am going to be preforming a xenograft on rats in order to develop a brain tumor. However, I am unsure as to the best way to maintain the cells - alive and healthy - during the 45-60 minutes it takes to preform the surgery. Will the viability be severely affected if I leave the cells (RG2-an adherent cell line)in suspension in a 15 mL tube in their growth media (DMEM + 10% FBS) outside of the incubator for approximately 1 hour?

As always thank you in advance for your help!

They will probably be mostly fine, there may be some loss of viability depending on how they are treated during preparation.

Edited to say: I think you mean xenograft, which may be more help when you are writing this up...