Development of an in vitro primary cell culture system from the penaeid shrimp, Penaeus stylirostris and Penaeus vannamei

Studies were carried out to improve the methods for producing primary cell cultures of penaeid shrimp and to make these procedures routine and practical. Supplements tested included: lobster hemolymph, shrimp muscle extract, fetal bovine serum and hybridoma quality fetal bovine serum. Grace's Insect Medium supplemented with hybridoma quality fetal bovine serum was found to provide the best results. The optimum conditions for shrimp cells in Grace's Insect Medium were determined to be an osmolality of approximately 700-750 mmol/kg, a temperature range of 25-28 °C and incubation in a normal atmosphere. Using the methods developed, monolayers of primary cultures of ovarian epithelioid cells from Penaeus stylirostris and Penaeus vannamei were routinely obtained with 80% confluence within a 2-day period.