Establishment and biological characterization of fibroblast cell line from the Langshan chicken

Establishment of the Primary Avian Gonadal Somatic Cell Lines for Cytogenetic Studies

Simple Summary

We developed a simple method for primary somatic cell culture establishment from the ovaries of the great tits and testes of ten Passerine species. The ovary-derived cell cultures were cultivated until the tenth passage without any noticeable decrease in their proliferative activity, while testis-derived cell cultures demonstrated a decreased proliferation potential. However, sufficient material was available from both cell cultures originating from the ovary and testis to make excellent mitotic metaphase chromosomal preparations. We demonstrated the high efficiency of electroporation for genetic modification of the ovary-derived cell line. Thus, the established ovary-derived cell line could be efficiently used in cytogenetic and genomic studies.

Abstract

The last decade was marked by a steep rise in avian studies at genomic and cellular levels. Cell lines are important tools for in vitro studies in cell biology and cytogenetics. We developed a simple method of primary somatic cell culture establishment from the ovaries of the great tits (Parus major) and testes of ten Passerine species, characterized the cellular composition of the ovary-derived lines using RT-PCR and immunolocalization of the tissue-specific markers and tested the efficiency of two methods of genetic transformation of the ovary-derived cell line. We found that the ovary-derived cell cultures of the great tit were composed of fibroblasts mainly, but also contained interstitial and granulosa cells. They were cultivated until the 10th passage without any noticeable decrease in their proliferative activity. The testis-derived cell cultures had lower proliferative potential. However, both ovary- and testis-derived cell cultures provided enough material for high quality mitotic metaphase chromosome preparations. The efficiency of its transduction with lentivirus containing a GFP reporter was very low, while electroporation with episomal vectors expressing GFP resulted in a high yield of GFP-positive cells. The proposed method could be used for the generation of high quality material for various cytogenetic and genomic studies.

Isolation, culture, and induced multiple differentiation of Mongolian sheep bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells

The aim of this paper was to explore the optimal method of isolating, purifying, and proliferating Mongolian sheep bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and their multiple differentiation potentialities. Bone marrow (BM) was punctured from ∼1-year-old sheep, and BMSCs were harvested through gradient centrifuge and adherent cultures. Analysis of the growth of the passage 1, 5, and 10 cultures revealed an S-shaped growth curve with a population doubling time of 31.2 h. Karyotyping indicated that the chromosome number in the Mongolian sheep was 2n = 54, comprising 26 pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes (XY). RT-PCR demonstrated that OCT4, SOX2, and Nanog genes at passage 3 were positively expressed. The P3 BMSCs were cultured in vitro under inductive environments and induced into adipocytes, osteoblasts, chondrocytes, neural cells, and cardiomyocytes. Their differentiation properties were confirmed by histological staining, such as oil red, Alizarin red, hematoxylin-eosin, toluidine blue, and periodic acid schiff. RT-PCR showed that the specific genes to be induced were all expressed. This proves that the isolated cells are indeed the BMSCs and also provides valuable materials for somatic cell cloning and transgenic research.

Somatic cells, stem cells, and induced pluripotent stem cells: how do they now contribute to conservation?

More than a decade has now passed since the birth of the first endangered species produced from an adult somatic cell reprogrammed by somatic cell nuclear transfer. At that time, advances made in domestic and laboratory animal species provided the necessary foundation for attempting cutting-edge technologies on threatened and endangered species. In addition to nuclear transfer, spermatogonial stem cell transplantation and induction of pluripotent stem cells have also been explored. Although many basic scientific questions have been answered and more than 30 wild species have been investigated, very few successes have been reported. The majority of studies document numerous obstacles that still need to be overcome to produce viable gametes or embryos for healthy offspring production. This chapter provides an overview of somatic cell and stem cell technologies in different taxa (mammals, fishes, birds, reptiles and amphibians) and evaluates the potential and impact of these approaches for animal species conservation.

Pure cultures and characterization of yak Sertoli cells

The culture of primary Sertoli cells has become an important resource in the study of their function. However, their use is limited because of contamination of isolated cells with other testicular cells, mainly germ cells. The aim was to establish technique to obtain pure yak Sertoli cells as well as to study the growth kinetics and biological characteristics of Sertoli cells in vitro. Two-step enzyme digestion was used to separate and culture yak Sertoli cells. Cultured using starvation method and the hypotonic treatment were also invented to get pure yak Sertoli cells. Furthermore, the purification of Yak Sertoli cells were identified according to their characteristics, such as bipolar corpuscular around the nucleus and expression of Fasl, in addition to their morphology. The average viability of the Sertoli cells was 97% before freezing and 94.5% after thawing, indicating that cryopreservation in liquid nitrogen had little influence on the viability of Sertoli cells. The growth tendency of yak Sertoli cells was similar to an S-shaped growth curve. Purified yak Sertoli cells frequently exhibited bipolar corpuscula in nucleus after Feulgen staining, and did have a positive reaction of Fasl by the immunocytochemical identification. After recovery chromosomal analysis of Sertoli cells had a normal chromosomal number of 60, comprising 29 pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes. Assays for bacteria, fungi and mycoplasmas were negative. In conclusion, yak Sertoli cells have been successfully purified and cultured in vitro, and maintain stable biological characteristics after thawing. Therefore, it will not only preserve the genetic resources of yaks at the cellular level, but also provide valuable materials for transgenic research and feeder layer and nuclear donor cells in yak somatic cell cloning technology.

Establishment and characterization of two fetal fibroblast cell lines from the yak

The objective of this work was to not only establish two fetal fibroblast cell lines from yak lung and ear tissue using a primary explant technique and cell cryogenic preservation technology but also check for their quality and biological characteristics. The cells showed typical morphologic characteristics of fibrous and long spindle appearance. Outgrowth of fibroblast-like cells from the lung and ear explants was around 2 and 3 d, and reaching 90% confluence level was in the ninth day and the thirteenth day, respectively. Biological analysis showed that the average viability of the lung fibroblast cells (ear fibroblast cells) was 97.5% (95.0%) before freezing and 91.0% (89.5%) after thawing. Analysis of the growth of the fifth passage culture revealed an "S"-shaped growth curve with the population doubling times of 30 h for lung fibroblast cell line and 35 h for ear fibroblast cell line. Karyotyping indicated the chromosome number of yak was 2n = 60, comprising 29 pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes (XY). All somatic chromosomes were telocentric autosomes except that the two sex chromosomes were submetacentric. Assays for bacteria, fungi, and mycoplasmas were negative. Immunocytochemical staining showed that the cells were positive for the expression of vimentin and negative for the expression of cytokeratin. In conclusion, two yak fetal fibroblast cell lines (YFLF and YFEF) from lung and ear explants are successfully established in culture. It will not only preserve the genetic resources of yaks at the cellular level but also provide valuable materials for somatic cell cloning and transgenic research.