Animal nutrition and breeding conditions modify the physiology of isolated primary cells

Publication date: Available online 2 March 2017
Source:Medical Hypotheses
Author(s): Irina Milisav, Blaž Banič, Dušan Šuput
Animal primary cell cultures are widely used in biomedical research to investigate cell metabolism, diseases and to devise novel treatments. Modern animal breeding techniques are developed to unify, control and reduce the amount of microorganisms that the animals are being exposed to. Furthermore, health monitoring and strict caging and handling protocols allow animals to be exposed only to a selected spectrum of microbes. We are starting to appreciate that nutrition can influence composition of gut microbiota that can impact hosting organism's physiology and can even result in development of pathological changes. Evidence is also emerging that acute as well as chronic stresses can profoundly influence the physiology of certain organs, especially heart and liver. Our preliminary data imply that changes in animal nutrition and stress levels initiated up to minutes before the cell isolation could alter the cell stress response of cultured primary hepatocytes after isolation, leading to differences in sensitivity of apoptosis triggering. Therefore, we propose the hypothesis that conditions of animal breeding, especially diet and stress levels, are reflected in the physiology of the isolated primary cells. Variations in animal breeding conditions may influence experimental results on isolated cells and their applicability for studying human disorders.



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