Stem cells from cartilaginous and bony fish.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on models for stem cell studies and comparative approaches for understanding the nature of evolution and embryological development. Cell culture increasingly is applied to complement the techniques and hypotheses of molecular biology. Goldfish and carp cell lines are used for studies of tissue regeneration and carcinogenesis. The first fish cell lines were established in basic nutrient media formulations developed for mammalian cells and using mammalian serum as a supplement. As time progressed, new cell lines from a variety of species began to be reported. Examples are cultures from the Asian striped snakehead, koi, grass carp, flounder, grouper, seabream, and Atlantic salmon. Further advancement in this field relies to some degree on media more precisely tailored to fish in general and often directed to specific genera or species. In these approaches, addition of purified growth factors, fish embryo extract, or other medium supplements is necessary. Using these methods, a number of embryonal stem cell-like and tissue-specific stem cell lines have been established from zebrafish embryo and adult tissues.