Isolation of Primary Fibroblast Culture from Wildlife: the Panthera onca Case to Preserve a South American Endangered Species.

Cell line establishment of somatic cells is a valuable resource to preserve genetic material of rare, difficult-to-find, endangered and giant species like Jaguar (Panthera onca), the largest South American felid. This unit focuses on the isolation and culture of fibroblasts from Jaguar skin and muscle biopsies, and ear cartilage dissection immediately after death to preserve one of the several endangered species in this biome. These culture techniques enabled us to contribute 570 samples from 45 autochthonous and endangered species, including Jaguar.

Improvement of Chicken Primordial Germ Cell Maintenance In Vitro by Blockade of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Endogenous Activity.

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the undifferentiated progenitors of gametes. Germline competent PGCs can be developed as a cell-based system for genetic modification in chickens, which provides a valuable tool for transgenic technology with both research and industrial applications. This implies manipulation of PGCs, which, in recent years, encouraged a lot of research focused on the study of PGCs and the way of improving their culture.