Abstract: Cleft lip and palate is one of the most frequent congenital malformations in human. Multidisciplinary research shows that etiology of cleft lip and palate is related with many factors and regulated by complicated molecular mechanisms. One of the main etiologies of the cleft palate is that the failure of the fusion of the opposing secondary palates. The research for that step is limited by the complicated human factors in vivo. Therefore, we could adopt the method of palatal shelves organ culture in vitro. This article reviews appliance of palatal
shelves organ culture methods in the research of cleft palate pathogenesis.