Development of primary cell cultures from Nephrops norvegicus

This paper reports the first attempt to develop primary cell cultures from tissues (ovary, testes, hepatopancreas, haematopoietic tissue, heart, gut, gill, eye-stalk and nerve tissues) of the Dublin Bay prawn (also known as the Norwegian squat lobster and scampi) Nephrops norvegicus (L.) using Leibovitz's L-15, MEM and M199 media supple mented with 5, 10 or 20 percent (w/v) foetal bovine serum (FBS). The best results were achieved with ovary tissues in 2 x Leibovitz's L-15. Also, primary cell cultures were developed with testicular and haematopoietic tissues. With ovary tissues, results with 5 percent (w/v) FBS at an osmolality of 800 mOsm/kg were superior for the maintenance of epithelial-type cells, and enabled longer survival, i.e. more than 3 months. Little success was achieved with M199 and MEM media. One subculture of ovary cells was obtained.