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Establishment of a primary hepatocyte culture from the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus) and distribution of mercury in liver tissue

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Abstract

The present study established a primary hepatocyte culture for the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus). To determine the suitable medium for growing the primary hepatic cells of this species, we compared the condition of cells cultured in three media that are frequently used for mammalian cell culture: Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium, RPMI-1640, and William’s E. Of these, William’s E medium was best suited for culturing the hepatic cells of this species. Using periodic acid-Schiff staining and ultrastructural observations, we demonstrated the cells collected from mongoose livers were hepatocytes. To evaluate the distribution of mercury (Hg) in the liver tissue, we carried out autometallography staining. Most of the Hg compounds were found in the central region of hepatic lobules. Smooth endoplasmic reticulum, which plays a role inxenobiotic metabolism, lipid/cholesterol metabolism, and the digestion and detoxification of lipophilic substances is grown in this area. This suggested that Hg colocalized with smooth endoplasmic reticulum. The results of the present study could be useful to identify the detoxification systems of wildlife with high Hg content in the body, and to evaluate the susceptibility of wildlife to Hg toxicity.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Global Environment Research Fund (RF-085 and RF-0908) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. This work was also supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research for Young Scientists (B) 23710044 provided by the Ministry of Education, Culture Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), Japan. This study was also partially supported by the Global Center of Excellence (COE) Program of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan to Ehime University, Japan. The authors wish to thank Dr. A. Subramanian, Ehime University, Japan for critical reading of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Regional Environment, Tottori University, 4-101 Koyamacho-Minami, Tottori, 680-8551, Japan

    Sawako Horai

  2. Department of Medical Genetics, University of the Ryukyus School of Medicine, Okinawa, Japan

    Kumiko Yanagi & Tadashi Kaname

  3. Department of Molecular Oncology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan

    Masatatsu Yamamoto & Tatsuhiko Furukawa

  4. Department of Environmental Conservation, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Izumi Watanabe

  5. Department of Subtropical Agro-Environmental Sciences, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan

    Go Ogura

  6. Naha Nature Conversation Office, Ministry of the Environment, Tokyo, Japan

    Shintaro Abe

  7. Center for Marine Environmental Studies, Ehime University, Ehime, Japan

    Shinsuke Tanabe

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  1. Sawako Horai
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  2. Kumiko Yanagi
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  3. Tadashi Kaname
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  4. Masatatsu Yamamoto
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  5. Izumi Watanabe
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  6. Go Ogura
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  7. Shintaro Abe
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  9. Tatsuhiko Furukawa
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Correspondence to Sawako Horai.

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Horai, S., Yanagi, K., Kaname, T. et al. Establishment of a primary hepatocyte culture from the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus) and distribution of mercury in liver tissue. Ecotoxicology 23, 1681–1689 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-014-1307-6

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