Immune Transcriptional Response in Head Kidney Primary Cell Cultures Isolated from the Three Most Important Species in Chilean Salmonids Aquaculture

Fish cell culture is a common in vitro tool for studies in different fields such as virology, toxicology, pathology and immunology of fish. Fish cell cultures are a promising help to study how to diagnose and control relevant viral and intracellular bacterial infections in aquaculture. They can also be used for developing vaccines and immunostimulants, especially with the ethical demand aiming to reduce and replace the number of fish used in research. This study aimed to isolate head kidney primary cell cultures from three Chilean salmonids: Salmo salar, Oncorhynchus kisutch, and Oncorhynchus mykiss, and characterize the response to bacterial and viral stimuli by evaluating various markers of the innate and adaptive immune response. Specifically, the primary cell cultures of the head kidney from the three salmonids studied were cultured and exposed to two substances that mimic molecular patterns of different pathogens, i.e., Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (bacterial) and Polyinosinic: polycytidylic acid (POLY I:C). Subsequently, we determined the mRNA expression profiles of the TLR-1, TLR-8, IgM, TLR-5, and MHC II genes. Head kidney primary cell cultures from the three species grown in vitro responded differently to POLY I:C and LPS. This is the first study to demonstrate and characterize the expression of immune genes in head kidney primary cell culture isolated from three salmonid species. It also indicates their potential role in developing immune responses as defense response agents and targets of immunoregulatory factors.