Characterization of a cellular model to study environmental factors influencing the gill of Atlantic salmon

Gill disease in farmed Atlantic salmon is a significant problem. Poor gill health, often caused by infectious agents or bad water quality severely compromises animal welfare and growth. With the increasing focus on recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) and more intensive production, new challenges related to the epithelial function of the gill are expected. Fundamental tools for research on the tolerance and barrier function of the gill epithelium are needed. So far the lack of a gill epithelial cell line from Atlantic salmon has hampered such experiments.

Now members of this project group have managed to establish a promising epithelial gill cell line (ASG-10) from Atlantic salmon. GILLMODEL will, through characterization of this cell line, develop a model for studying epithelial gill biology. This model can thus be used to test environmental factors influencing functions such as cell viability and epithelial barrier integrity. Overall, this project will provide an important tool that can replace some of the experimental trials for gill research.