Bp. Bryant et al., Potential for cell culture techniques as a wildlife management tool for screening primary repellents management, INT BIO BIO, 45(3-4), 2000, pp. 175-181
The identification of new chemical repellents for wildlife damage managemen
t is impeded by the need to perform cumbersome and expensive behavioral tes
ts. Here, we report the development of in vitro cell culture methods to inc
rease the speed and efficiency of repellent screening while reducing costs,
as well as the number of animals necessary for research. Our methods explo
it the fact that effective primary repellents depend on the stimulation of
pain receptors. We cultured trigeminal nociceptors (pain receptors) from No
rway rat (Rattus norvegicus, laboratory strain), white leghorn chicken (Gal
lus gallus), coyote (Canis latrans), white-railed deer (Odocoileus virginia
nus) and Canada goose (Branta canadensis), and then applied digital fluores
cence microscopy to measure changes in intracellular calcium (an index of c
ellular activation) in response to applications of known and effective repe
llents. Capsaicin, bradykinin and acetylcholine were more effective stimuli
for rat, coyote, and deer neurons than cells from chicken. (C) 2000 Elsevi
er Science Ltd. All rights reserved.