Cytotoxicity and genotoxicity assays with cultured fish cells: A review

Cultured fish cells can be used in a variety of cytotoxicity and genotoxicity assays for the preliminary testing of environmental chemical hazards that may be hazardous to the aquatic biota. Such assays can also be used to evaluate synergistic and antagonistic interactions between combinations of test agents and to establish structure-activity relationships for series of related chemicals. A range of fish cell lines are available for use in such assays and a variety of endpoints may be used. To detect toxicants that require bioactivation the chosen cell line must have significant P-450 activity, or a metabolizing component must be incorporated into the assay. Fish cells in culture respond to the same chemical mutagens and clastogens that are genotoxic to mammalian cells in culture. However, since fish cells in culture are eurythermic, they represent a unique system for studying temperature as a parameter in mediating the genotoxicity and the cytotoxicity of a test agent.