Zebrafish fin‐derived fibroblast cell line: A model for in vitro wound healing

The goal of this study was to develop and characterize a cell line from the caudal fin tissue of zebrafish and also its application as an in vitro model to study the effect of H₂O₂ in wound healing. Fibroblastic cell line was developed using explant culture method from caudal fin tissue of zebrafish and characterized. This cell line was named as DrF cell line. The DrF cells treated with 0–10 µM/ml H₂O₂ were tested for viability, proliferation and motility by MTT assay, trypan blue assay and chemotaxis assay, respectively. Among the different concentrations of H₂O₂, 4 µM was found to be nontoxic to study cell migration in in vitro scratch wound assay. Furthermore, the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and chemokine receptor (CXCR4) genes was carried by qPCR. The cell survival, proliferation and migration were extremely enriched at 4 µM level of H₂O₂. We observed accelerated wound closure in DrF cells treated with H₂O_2. The qPCR results indicated that H₂O₂ markedly up‐regulated mRNA expression of PCNA and CXCR4. The findings from our study suggest that H₂O₂ at low levels promotes cell survival, proliferation, migration and wound healing in DrF cells.