Tissue culture of the deep-sea eel Simenchelys parasiticus collected at 1,162 m.

We successfully cultivated fin cells of the deep-sea eel Simenchelys parasiticus (collected at 1,162 m) in L-15 medium supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS) and additional NaCl. We found that the pectoral fin cells proliferated in L-15 medium enriched with 4 g/l of NaCl salt (pH 7.3) containing 10% FBS at 10 degrees C and 15 degrees C. No cells were attached to the plastic culture plates when Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (pH 7.8) or 0-2 g/l of NaCl was added to the medium or when incubation was carried out at 4 degrees C. The majority of the explant outgrowth cells were detached when temperature increased to higher than 15 degrees C. The rate of proliferation of the fin cells was extremely slow and was dependent on the FBS concentration. Cell growth was enhanced by approximately 2.2-fold, and doubling time decreased from 170 h to 77 h when the FBS concentration was increased from 10% to 20% (v/v). Our established deep-sea eel cells were passaged 16 times over a 1-year period under atmospheric pressure conditions.