Chapter 2 Use of fish cell lines in the toxicology and ecotoxicology of fish. Piscine cell lines in environmental toxicology

Development of an In vitro Cultivated, Spontaneously and Long-term Contracting 3D Heart Model as a Robust Test System

“…This effect could not be observed at the SCCs. Causation could be that optimal cell growth occurs at temperatures slightly higher than the temperature of the donor [23,24]. In that case an irregularity of the heart rate would be estimated at higher temperature than in fish.…”

Generation of reactive oxygen species in relevant cell lines as a bio-indicator of oxidative effects caused by acid mine water

“…A number of environmental stressors exert toxic effects via different pathways based on their metabolism and reactivity; metals are reported to exert direct pro-oxidant effects through biochemical oxido/ reduction mechanisms by triggering apoptosis and oxidative stress (Assefa et al, 2005;Valko et al, 2005). Contreras et al (2005) reported a significant increase in ROS and lipo-peroxide levels in seaweeds around the discharges of copper mines, while Bopp et al (2008) reported a 25-to 35-fold ROS induction in rainbow trout gill cells exposed to Cu (total Cu 100 µM, pH 7). Exposure to a mixture of heavy metals (Cu, Cd, Fe and Ni) caused a decrease in the levels of antioxidant enzymes, reduced GSH and an increase in lipid peroxidation in the gills of the freshwater fish Channa punctata (Pandey et al, 2008).…”

“…In-vitro techniques determine possible toxicological effects of effluent compounds at the sub-cellular level versus whole or intact animal testing, offering the advantage of rapid, reproducible and more cost-effective research (Castaño et al, 2003;Bols et al, 2005). These in-vitro systems have been extremely useful in the following studies: cytotoxicity (Environment Canada, 1990), drug metabolism and toxicity (LeCluyse, 2001), molecular toxicity (Blaauboer et al, 1998), and predicting biological reactivity of potential toxic compounds (Barratt, 2000).…”

“…Cell line use in toxicity testing involving environmental contaminants has been widely reported (Maruoka, 1978;Kfir et al, 1981;Van Doren et al, 1984;Mochida, 1986;Bols et al, 2005). An advantage to using cell lines is that they allow exposure of cells directly to whole water with little toxicant lost to extraction processes or to further sample processing (Dayeh et al, 2002).…”

“…Fish cell lines may be used as potential alternatives to whole fish in testing environmental samples for toxicity. The RTgill-W1 and RTL-W1 liver epithelial fish cell lines from rainbow trout have been used successfully (Dayeh et al, 2005). Mammalian cell lines such as HepG2 and Vero kidney cells representing liver and kidneys, respectively, can be used to evaluate mammalian toxicity.…”