A cell line, WE-cfin11f, with a fibroblast-like morphology was developed from a walleye caudal fin and used to study the intersection of thermobiology of walleye, Sander vitreus (Mitchill), with the thermal requirements for replication of viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus (VHSV) IVb. WE-cfin11f proliferated from 10 to 32 °C and endured as a monolayer for at least a week at 1-34 °C. WE-cfin11f adopted an epithelial shape and did not proliferate at 4 °C. Adding VHSV IVb to cultures at 4 and 14 °C but not 26 °C led to cytopathic effects (CPE) and virus production. At 4 °C, virus production developed more slowly, but Western blotting showed more N protein accumulation. Infecting monolayer cultures at 4 °C for 7 days and then shifting them to 26 °C resulted in the monolayers being broken in small areas by CPE, but with time at 26 °C, the monolayers were restored. These results suggest that at 26 °C, the VHSV IVb life cycle stages responsible for CPE can be completed, but the production of virus and the initiation of infections cannot be accomplished.

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Cell lines and primary cultures from several teleost tissues and species were stained for senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA β-Gal), revealing four general outcomes. (1) For long-standing fish cell lines that can be considered immortal, little or no SA β-Gal staining was observed, regardless of the culture conditions. (2) For a new walleye cell line from the bulbus arteriosus (WEBA), most cells stained for SA β-Gal even after 40 passages. This suggested that high SA β-Gal activity was a unique property of WEBA, perhaps reflecting their endothelial character, rather than cellular senescence. (3) For cell lines developed from the walleye caudal fin and from somatic cells in rainbow trout coelomic fluid, no SA β-Gal staining was observed in the earliest cultures to over 70 passages later. This suggested that cells from these anatomical sites do not undergo senescence in vitro. (4) By contrast, for cell lines developed from the walleye brain and from somatic cells in rainbow trout milt, most cells in the early-stage cultures stained for SA β-Gal, but as these were developed into cell lines, SA β-Gal-negative cells became dominant. This suggested that if cellular senescence occurred in vitro, this happened early in these cultures and subsequently a few SA β-Gal-negative cells went onto to form the cell line. Overall, the presence of SA β-Gal-positive cells in cultures could be interpreted in several ways, whereas their absence predicted that in these cultures, cells would proliferate indefinitely.

Nanoparticles (NPs) have extensive industrial, biotechnological, and biomedical/pharmaceutical applications, leading to concerns over health risks to humans and biota. Among various types of nanoparticles, silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) have become popular as nanostructuring, drug delivery, and optical imaging agents. SiO2 NPs are highly stable and could bioaccumulate in the environment. Although toxicity studies of SiO2 NPs to human and mammalian cells have been reported, their effects on aquatic biota, especially fish, have not been significantly studied. Twelve adherent fish cell lines derived from six species (rainbow trout, fathead minnow, zebrafish, goldfish, haddock, and American eel) were used to comparatively evaluate viability of cells by measuring metabolic impairment using Alamar Blue. Toxicity of SiO2 NPs appeared to be size-, time-, temperature-, and dose-dependent as well as tissue-specific. However, dosages greater than 100 μg/mL were needed to achieve 24 h EC50 values (effective concentrations needed to reduce cell viability by 50%). Smaller SiO2 NPs (16 nm) were relatively more toxic than larger sized ones (24 and 44 nm) and external lining epithelial tissue (skin, gills)-derived cells were more sensitive than cells derived from internal tissues (liver, brain, intestine, gonads) or embryos. Higher EC50 values were achieved when toxicity assessment was performed at higher incubation temperatures. These findings are in overall agreement with similar human and mouse cell studies reported to date. Thus, fish cell lines could be valuable for screening emerging contaminants in aquatic environments including NPs through rapid high-throughput cytotoxicity bioassays.

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The skin epithelial layer acts as an important immunological barrier against pathogens and is capable of recognizing and responding to pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) in human and mouse models. Although presumed, it is unknown whether amphibian skin epithelial cells exhibit the ability to respond to PAMPs such as viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). To address this, two cell lines from the dorsal skin (Xela DS2) and ventral skin (Xela VS2) of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) were established. Xela DS2 and Xela VS2 cells have an epithelial-like morphology, express genes associated with epithelial cells, and lack senescence-associated beta-galactosidase activity. Cells grow optimally in 70% Leibovitz's L-15 medium supplemented with 15% fetal bovine serum at 26°C. Upon treatment with poly(I:C), a synthetic viral dsRNA analogue and known type I interferon inducer, Xela DS2 and Xela VS2 exhibit marked upregulation of key pro-inflammatory and antiviral transcripts suggesting frog epithelial cells participate in the recognition of extracellular viral dsRNA and production of local inflammatory signals; similar to human and mouse models. Currently, these are the only known Xenopus laevis skin epithelial-like cell lines and will be important for future research in amphibian epithelial cell biology, initial host-pathogen interactions, and rapid screening of the effects of environmental stressors, including contaminants, on frog skin epithelial cells.

Anncaliia algerae is an aquatic microsporidium that most commonly infects mosquitoes but can be grown on the rabbit kidney cell line, RK-13. Spores were purified from RK-13 cultures and added to cell lines from warm water fish and from an insect. The cell lines were GFSK-S1 and GFB3C-W1 from goldfish skin and brain respectively, ZEB2J from zebrafish embryos, FHMT-W1 from fathead minnow testis, and Sf9 from ovaries of a fall armyworm moth. All cultures were maintained at 27°C. Infection was judged to have taken place by the appearance of sporonts and/or spores in cells and occurred in all cell lines. Spores were also isolated from ZEB2J cultures and used to successfully infect new cultures of ZEB2J, RK-13 and Sf9. These results suggest that cells of a wide range of vertebrates support A. algerae growth in vitro and fish cells can produce spores infectious to cells of mammals, fish, and insects.

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