Development of Caudal Fin Cell Line from Hill Trout Barilius Bendelisis (Hamilton, 1807) for Cytotoxicity and Transfection Studies

A cell line named BBdF-1, established from the caudal fin of hill stream fish , has been subcultured for more than 52 passages and is being maintained in L-15 media containing 20% FBS. Species origin of the cell line was confirmed using amplification of partial region of 16S and COI mitochondrial gene sequences. The optimum temperature for growth of BBdF-1 cell line was found to be 28°C. Karyotyping revealed diploid chromosome number as 50. Cells exhibited strong binding for cytokeratin marker and thus were found to be epithelial-like. Strong green fluorescence was observed in BBdF-1 cells transfected with phrGFP-II-N vector, indicating its suitability for utilization in gene expression and manipulation studies. Successful assessment of cytotoxicity of two heavy metals, . mercury and chromium, was performed. The cell line can serve as a useful resource material for early toxicity screening of pesticides/pollutant and gene expression.