Introduction: Regeneration is a biological phenomenon, which consists of two main stages: dedifferentiation of mature cells followed by their differentiation towards functional new tissues. One of the best studied examples in this field is regeneration of rabbit s pinna. The aim of present study was to investigate growth and proliferative aspects of the cells derived from rabbit´s regenerating pinna. Methods: To characterise the cells, 3 months old male rabbits were used. In order to prepare regenerating tissue, in days 0, 2 and 12 after first punching, 2 mm rings from the rabbit s pinnas were removed and transferred to culture medium. To identify the cells derived from regenerating tissue, their survival and growth were examined in vitro. Furthermore, the morphology of these cells was studied using light microscopy. Results: Our results revealed that cells started to attach and grow from the 0, 2 and 12 days old rings after 20, 10-15 and 6-8 days of culture, respectively. Moreover, they managed to survive for long period and that the cells derived from 0, 2 and 12 days rings could be passaged at least more than 10, 50 and 40 times, respectively. Conclusion: Regeneration is a unique process that enables damaged tissues in some animals to acquire their functional properties. Several studies have shown that mammals like rabbits have the ability to regenerate their damaged pinnas with very high efficiency. The results of present study indicated that cells derived from rabbit´s regenerating pinnas are able to survive and proliferate for many passages in vitro. Further experiments are required to study the stemness characteristics of these cells.

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