Cytotoxicity evaluation of chemicals using cultured fish cells

Development of simple and rapid cytotoxicity assays using fish cell lines was attempted. Cytotoxicity of chemicals was evaluated by neutral red assay using five monolayer-cultured fish cell lines, BB cells, CHSE-214 cells, EPC cells, FHM cells, RTG-2 cells, and one suspension-cultured fish cell line, CHSE-sp cells. The strength of cytotoxicity was observed in an order of cadmium chloride>zinc sulfate>copper chloride>nickel chloride. The concentration of no observable effect on the CHSE-214 cells viability was 2%(v/v) for DMSO and 0.5%(v/v) for DMSO containing 20 mg · ml^–1 taurodeoxycholic acid. The correlation between the 24-hour NR50 values of eleven chemicals to the CHSE-sp cells and those to the CHSE-214 cells was very high (r=0.98). The cytotoxicity assay using suspension-cultured fish cells was found to be one of valuable device for screening the toxicity of chemicals for fish.