Cultures of glial cells from optic nerve of two adult teleost fish: Astatotilapia burtoni and Danio rerio

Abstract

Background: In vitro studies are very useful to increase the knowledge of different cell types and could be the key to understand cell metabolism and function. Fish optic nerves (ON) can recover visual functions by reestablishing its structure and reconnecting the axons of ganglion cells. This is because fish show spontaneous regeneration of the central nervous system which does not occur in mammals. In addition, several studies have indicated that glial cells of ON have different properties in comparison to the glial cells from brain or retina. Consequently, providing an in vitro tool will be highly beneficial to increase the knowledge of these cells.

New method: We developed a cell culture protocol to isolate glial cells from ON of two teleost fish species, Danio rerio and Astatotilapia burtoni.

Results: The optimized protocol allowed us to obtain ON cells and brain-derived cells from adult teleost fish. These cells were characterized as glial cells and their proprieties in vitro were analyzed.Comparison with Existing Method(s): Although it is striking that ON glial cells show peculiarities, their study in vitro has been limited by the only published protocol going back to the 1990s. Our protocol makes glial cells of different fish species available for experiments and studies to increase the understanding of these glial cell types.

Conclusions: This validated and effective in vitro tool increases the possibilities on studies of glial cells from fish ON which implies a reduction in animal experimentation.

Keywords: Cell culture; Cichlid; Glial cells; Optic nerve; Zebrafish.