Development of leucocyte cell lines for immunological research in teleost fish

白血球，或称白血球，是保护身体免受感染并提供抗病能力的细胞。在哺乳动物中，对白细胞功能的研究在很大程度上得益于许多白细胞细胞系的可用，这些细胞系允许使用培养系统进行大量研究，而不需要从动物身上获取组织和细胞。这些发展在很大程度上是由于许多白细胞生长因子的发现，这些因子可以使用分子方法产生，并作为生长补充剂添加到培养物中。在这项提议中，我们的目标是发展鱼类的白细胞系，这是由于研究人员越来越多地使用鱼类，部分是由于水产养殖及其相关需求的重大扩张(例如鱼类健康问题)。申请者因在鱼类类白细胞生长因子方面的研究而享誉国际，因此可以生产相关的蛋白质来促进白细胞在体外生长。将采取几种不同的方法来产生细胞系，并提出一些初步的表征，以便它们很快成为研究人员的宝贵资源。除了减少使用的鱼的数量外，鱼的痛苦的减少也应该伴随着这一发展，因为细胞系还将允许在活鱼试验之前对化合物和化学物质进行初步的体外测试，以确定它们是否影响白细胞功能。

White blood cells, or leucocytes, are the cell that defence the body from infections and provide disease resistance. Research into the function of leucocytes is greatly aided in mammals by the availability of many leucocyte cell lines, that allow a lot of research to be performed using culture systems without the need to harvest tissues and cells from animals. These developments have been possible in large part by the discovery of many leucocyte growth factors, that can be produced using molecular methodologies, and added to the cultures as growth supplements. In this proposal we aim to develop leucocyte cell lines for fish, due to increasing use of fish by researchers, partly as a consequence of the major expansion of aquaculture and its associated needs (eg fish health issues). The applicants are internationally renown for their work on the fish equivalents of the leucocyte growth factors, and so can produce relevant proteins to encourage leucocytes to grow in vitro. Several different approaches will be taken to generate the cell lines, and some preliminary characterisation is proposed, so that they will quickly become a valuable resource for researchers. In addition to a reduction in the numbers of fish being used, a reduction in fish suffering should also follow this development, since the cell lines will also allow preliminary in vitro testing of compounds and chemicals to see if they affect leucocyte function, before testing in live fish.