Establishment and characterization of pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata) dermal fibroblast cell line

PLoS One. 2018 Mar 29;13(3):e0195128. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195128. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

The pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata) (PKW) is a tropical and subtropical marine mammal commonly found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Since the PKWs live in offshore protected territories, they are rarely seen onshore. Hence, PKW are one of the most poorly understood oceanic species of odontocetes. The dermal tissue comes primarily from stranding events that occur along the coast of the Shantou, Guangdong, China. The sampled tissues were immediately processed and attached on collagen-coated 6-well tissue culture plate. The complete medium (DMEM and Ham's F12, fetal bovine serum, antibiotic and essential amino acids) was added to the culture plates. The primary culture (PKW-LWH) cells were verified as fibroblast by vimentin and karyotype analyses, which revealed 42 autosomes and two sex chromosomes X and Y. Following transfection of PKW-LWH cells with a plasmid encoding, the SV40 large T-antigens and the transfected cells were isolated and expanded. Using RT-PCR, western blot, immunofluorescence analysis and SV40 large T-antigen stability was confirmed. The cell proliferation rate of the fibroblast cells, PKW-LWHT was faster than the primary cells PKW-LWH with the doubling time 68.9h and 14.4h, respectively. In this study, we established PKW dermal fibroblast cell line for the first time, providing a unique opportunity for in vitro studies on the effects of environmental pollutants and pathogens that could be determined in PKW and/or Cetaceans.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Culture Techniques / methods*
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Dermis / cytology*
  • Dermis / metabolism
  • Dolphins / physiology*
  • Fibroblasts / cytology*
  • Fibroblasts / metabolism
  • Male

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 41676166 and 41776174) to LW, Ministry of Agriculture (Chinese White Dolphin Conservation Action) and CNOOC Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.