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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Veterinary and Zoonotic Infection
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1518808

Neurological and Immunological Characteristics of a Novel Immortalized Bovine Brainstem-derived Cell Line and its Susceptibility to Arbovirus Infection

Provisionally accepted
Rina Ikeda Rina Ikeda 1Tohru Yanase Tohru Yanase 1Misako Konishi Misako Konishi 1Katsunori Murota Katsunori Murota 1Shogo Tanaka Shogo Tanaka 1Takato Takenouchi Takato Takenouchi 2*
  • 1 Kagoshima Research Station, National Institute of Animal Health, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Japan
  • 2 Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Immortalized bovine neuronal cell lines provide a reliable in vitro model for studying interactions with bovine infectious pathogens that target the host nervous system.Although we previously established an immortalized fetal bovine brain-derived FBBC-1 cell line, there are currently no other bovine neuronal cell lines commonly available. In the present study, we developed a novel immortalized cell line, IKBM, derived from the adult bovine brainstem by transferring a SV40 large T antigen gene using lentiviral vectors, and compared its characteristics to the FBBC-1 cell line. As with FBBC-1 cells, IKBM cells extended neurite-like processes in response to agents that increase cytosolic cyclic AMP levels. A comprehensive analysis using RNA sequencing demonstrated that both cell lines potentially possess neural progenitor cell-like properties and differentiate into dopaminergic neuron-like cells after induction of the outgrowth of neurite-like processes. Unexpectedly, we found that the mRNAs of multiple immunomodulatory molecules were highly expressed in IKBM cells, but not in FBBC-1 cells. Although IKBM cells were susceptible to infection with arboviruses (Akabane and Chuzan viruses) that cause neurological symptoms in cattle, viral titers were lower in IKBM cell cultures than in hamster lung-derived HmLu-1 cell cultures, which are frequently used to isolate arboviruses. The reduced production of viruses in IKBM cell cultures may be related to the high expression of immunomodulatory molecules in these cells. Therefore, IKBM and FBBC-1 cell lines offer the opportunity to develop unique in vitro models of the bovine nervous system for the study of host-pathogen interactions based on their respective properties.

    Keywords: Arbovirus, Bovine brainstem cells, Immortalization, immunomodulatory molecule, neuronal differentiation

    Received: 29 Oct 2024; Accepted: 07 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Ikeda, Yanase, Konishi, Murota, Tanaka and Takenouchi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Takato Takenouchi, Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.