Abstract: Small intestine is the main place for digestion and absorption of the food, while the intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) play an important role in the digestion, absorption and transport of nutrient, digestive enzyme secretion and intestinal immunity. The isolation and primary culture of IEC provide an important tool to study differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis and other biological functions of the IEC. This article overviewed the relevant progress in culture of chicken IEC in vitro, such as the choice of tissue culture, common method for isolation method of IEC, factors that affect the IEC culture and identification method

Key words: intestine epithelial cells; chicken; isolation; primary culture in vitro