Establishing fin whale fibroblast culture conditions for toxicological studies

• Main Author: Lund, Anne Hareide
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: The University of Bergen 2023
• Subjects: 751999; Fin whale
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3045550

Several marine mammal species have been hunted to near extinction by humans. As such, many of these species are vulnerable to population reductions due to changing climate, destruction of habitats, and environmental pollution. Environmental pollution is a huge problem and there is a lack of knowledge about how it impacts these vulnerable populations. Thus, toxicological studies of marine mammal species are important, also due to interspecies differences in reactions to toxicants. However, standard animal experiments are not options for most of these species. One alternative is to procure tissue and blood samples from individuals without killing them. These tissues can be used in several studies, e.g., determining toxicant concentrations in the individual or establishing cell cultures. In this study, fibroblast cells from fin whales were used in toxicological studies. Firstly, better culture conditions were explored to improve cell growth. Secondly, the cells were exposed to benzo[a]pyrene and mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and the effects of expression of selected biomarker genes were tested. Lastly, the cells were exposed to a chemical cocktail in an attempt to reprogram the cells into mesenchymal stem cells (iMSCs). The cells grew faster when bFGF was added to the medium while collagen coating had no detectable effect. No significant changes in gene expression levels of biomarkers were detected from cells exposed to the environmental toxicants. The MSC induction experiment resulted in cells of altered morphology that may suggest generation of MSC, but qPCR analysis of putative markers showed no significant expression changes. Masteroppgave i biologi BIO399 MAMN-BIO MAMN-HAVSJ