Characterization of a reptilian epithelioid skin cell line derived from the green sea turtle,Chelonia mydas

Abstract

A continuous line of epithelioid cells was established from explant skin tissues of the green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas. These cells, designated GTS, have been subcultured more than 60 times in commercially available mammalian cell culture medium supplemented with 5% bovine calf serum. Of those temperatures tested, optimal growth was achieved at 30 degrees C although replication occurred between 16 and 37 degrees C. These cells may be held as monolayers at 8 degrees C or stored frozen in growth medium containing 10% dimethyl-sulfoxide at -70 or -196 degrees C. The modal number of 55 chromosomes per cell is in agreement with the heterogametic female diploid number of this species. The GTS line represents the first established culture of normal epithelioid skin cells to be reported for a poikilothermic species.

Establishment and characterization of 13 cell lines from a green turtle (Chelonia mydas) with fibropapillomas

“…All 13 cell lines showed no growth when incubated at either 15 ° C or 37 ° C. This result is consistent with that of Moore and coworkers (24) but conflicts with findings by Koment and Haines who demon-strated rapid replication of turtle skin cells at 37 ° C and minor growth at 16 ° C (16). Despite their sensitivity to low temperature, these newly established green turtle cell lines remained viable over 3 mo.…”

“…It should be noted that this optimal growth temperature was not due to the initial adaptation of green turtle cells cultivated at 30 ° C since the initial growth of green turtle cells progressed much slower when an alternative temperature (25 ° C) was selected (data not shown). This optimum growth temperature was identical to that reported for three cell lines previously established from green turtles (16,20,24). Interestingly, the incubation temperature for maximal growth was slightly higher than the preferred temperature (21-28 ° C) of green turtles in nature (15).…”

“…In addition to specific cell-tropism requirements, some viruses can be propagated only in cell lines derived from the same host species. Although three green turtle cell lines have been established previously, including an epithelial cell line derived from skin (16) ~To whom correspondence should be addressed at Retrovirology Research Laboratory, Pacific Biomedical Resem'eh Center, University of Hawaii, Leahi Hospital, 3675 Kilauea Avenue, Honolulu, Hawaii 96816. and fibroblastic cell lines from cutaneous fibropapillomas (20) and green turtle embryos (24), there has been no documentation of virus isolation in these cell lines. In this report, we describe the successful establishment and characterization of 13 cell lines from various tissues/organs of a green turtle with fibropapillomas in an effort to rescue the possible latent viruses and to facilitate the isolation and identification of the possible etiologic virus(es) of GTFP.…”

In Vitro Thermal Effects on Embryonic Cells of Endangered Hawksbill TurtleEretmochelys imbricata

“…At low temperature (19°C), cells were unable to replicate (data not shown). Koment and Haines (1982) reported that normal epithelioid skin cells of the green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, were successfully grown at 30°C, although replication occurred between 16 and 37°C. At 37°C however, the cells were noticeably ragged and granulated, resulting from acceleration of metabolism by rapid change in pH.…”

“…These include various cells from the heart of the box turtle, Terrapene carolina (Clark and Karzon, 1967;Huang and Clark, 1967), the skin of the green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas (Koment and Haines, 1982), the heart and lung of the Tokai gecko, Gecko gecko, the heart, liver and kidney of the green iguana, Iguana iguana, the heart of the side-necked turtle, Podocnemis unifilis, and the spleen of the Grecian tortoise, Testudo graeca (Clark et al, 1970). Cell lines have also been established from cutaneous fibropapillomas of C. mydas (Mansell et al, 1989;Lu et al, 1999).…”