Two new cell culture systems namely epitheloid cells
of Lates (LCE) and ¢broblastic cells of Lates (LCF) have
been developed from fry and ¢ngerling of the economically
important brackishwater ¢sh Lates calcarifer.
Primary cultures were initiated by explant
technique using caudal ¢n of ¢ngerling and whole
body tissue of the fry. The nutritional requirements
and the growth pattern in response to di¡erent culture
environment were similar for the two cell cultures.
The culture medium used was Leibovitz-15
supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum (FBS)
and 1% ¢sh serum. The LCE comprised of epithelioid
cells and LCF cells were ¢broblastic.With a split ratio
of 1:2, the con£uency of cells was attained in 8^10
days at an incubation temperature of 28 1C. The cells
were found to grow well in a wide range of temperature
(24^32 1C) and stable at 20 and 36 1C. The
growth rate of LCFand LCE cells increased proportionately
with the concentration of FBS from 5% to
20%. A decrease of serum level to 10% after eight
subcultures produced no apparent change in cell
morphology and growth rate. The viability of cells
was found to be 70% when revived after a month of
storage in liquid nitrogen (196 1C).