title: Development and use of an Arctic charr cell line to study antiviral responses at extremely low temperatures.
abstract: Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) are the northernmost distributed freshwater fish and can grow at water temperatures as low as 0.2 °C. Other teleost species have impaired immune function at temperatures that Arctic charr thrive in, and thus, charr may maintain immune function at these temperatures. In this study, a fibroblastic cell line, named ACBA, derived from the bulbus arteriosus (BA) of Arctic charr was developed for use in immune studies at various temperatures. ACBA has undergone more than forty passages at 18 °C over 3 years, while showing no signs of senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity and producing nitric oxide. Remarkably, ACBA cells survived and maintained some mitotic activity even at 1 °C for over 3 months. At these low temperatures, ACBA also continued to produce MH class I proteins. After challenge with poly I:C, only antiviral Mx proteins were induced while MH proteins remained constant. When exposed to live viruses, ACBA was shown to permit viral infection and replication of IPNV, VHSV IVa and CSV at 14 °C. Yet at the preferred temperature of 4 °C, only VHSV IVa was shown to replicate within ACBA. This study provides evidence that Arctic charr cells can maintain immune function while also resisting infection with intracellular pathogens at low temperatures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Semple
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: N T K
authors.initials: NTK
authors.lastname: Vo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Bols
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: B
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4213-5483
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dixon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D003080:Cold Temperature; D018061:Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus / Q000502:physiology*; D064547:Myxovirus Resistance Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D029141:Novirhabdovirus / Q000502:physiology*; D011070:Poly I-C / Q000494:pharmacology; D012087:Reoviridae / Q000502:physiology*; D014337:Trout / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D064547:Myxovirus Resistance Proteins; D011070:Poly I-C
keywords: Arctic charr; cell culture; immune function; major histocompatibility gene; poly I:C; viral pathogens