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अमूर्त

Fish Cell Cultures - Uses and Prospects

Suja Aarattuthodi, Vandana Dharan, Manoj Koshy

Fish cell cultures are employed in diverse research fields such as virology, physiology, toxicology, immunology, genetics, and pharmacology. These systems can be utilized for pathogen detection, confirmation, propagation, and characterization, especially of viruses. Cell cultures are also utilized in the case of intracellular bacteria, Myxosporean, or Microsporidian parasites. Fish cell cultures have gained more popularity in recent years and have prominent roles as model systems and in the large-scale production of biologicals. The recent swift growth observed in research employing cell cultures is definitely an outcome of the progress in this sector and also due to increasing ethical demands for reduction and replacement of animals used in research. In vitro fish cell cultures are excellent research models in simulating host animal in vivo. The diverse applications of fish cell cultures in various research fields are attributed to their versatility, cost-effectiveness, convenience in handling, and ease in genetic manipulation. For several infectious viral diseases, as therapeutic options are limited, early disease diagnosis and prophylactic measures are crucial for efficient fish health management. In this scenario, a better understanding of the viral pathogenesis and mechanisms utilizing in vitro cell lines are essential to facilitate disease management strategies such as vaccines and antiviral agents. Moreover, host preferences of pathogens, virus-host cell interactions, and virus localization can also be studied using cell cultures. Availability of host-specific or host-susceptible fish cell cultures is very limited, which is a major concern in this area. In near future, innovations in 3D cell culture, stem cells, and genome editing will further enhance the research prospects of fish cell cultures.