Preface
I started insect cell culture work in 1962, when T.D.C. Grace reported the
first establishment of invertebrate continuous cell lines. He obtained growing cells from pupal ovaries of the emperor gum moth, Antheraea eucalypti. At that time, I was trying to obtain growing cells from leafhoppers.
Grace's method could not be applied directly to my culture because of
the differences in species, the size of the insects, and the tissue to be cultured. The vertebrate tissue culture methods gave me some ideas for preparing cultures from leafhoppers, but those could not be used directly
either. There were no textbooks and no manuals for invertebrate tissue
culture, so I had to develop a method by myself. First, I considered what
type and what size of vessels are suitable for insect tissue culture. Also, I
had to look for suitable materials to construct the culture vessels. Second, I had to examine various culture media, especially growth-promoting substances, such as sera. Then I had to improve culture media by
trial and error. The procedure to set up a primary culture was also a
problem. How could I sterilize materials? How could I remove tissues
from a tiny insect? How many tissues should I pool in order to set up one
culture? I had to find out the answers. Naturally, it took a lot of time.
Have all the problems with invertebrate tissue culture techniques now
been solved? I should say no. We still do not have a proper textbook for
invertebrate tissue culture. Although many papers on invertebrate tissue
culture have been published during the last half-century, the information is widely dispersed. The papers have been published in journals in
various fields, and some of them are difficult to obtain.
In light of these conditions, I decided to compile the available information on invertebrate tissue culture techniques into a book. Some of
the techniques cited here are already classical. I believe, however, that
these old techniques will provide some ideas when attempts are made to
culture tissues from an invertebrate whose tissue has never been cultured. Development of gene technology during the last decade has been
remarkable. These new techniques are being applied to invertebrate tissue culture too. In this book I have made efforts to cite the new technology as much as possible, although the rapid pace of development makes
some omissions inevitable.
I hope that this manual will assist students and scientists working in
invertebrate tissue culture.
JUN MITSUHASHI
January 1,2001
I started insect cell culture work in 1962, when T.D.C. Grace reported the
first establishment of invertebrate continuous cell lines. He obtained growing cells from pupal ovaries of the emperor gum moth, Antheraea eucalypti. At that time, I was trying to obtain growing cells from leafhoppers.
Grace's method could not be applied directly to my culture because of
the differences in species, the size of the insects, and the tissue to be cultured. The vertebrate tissue culture methods gave me some ideas for preparing cultures from leafhoppers, but those could not be used directly
either. There were no textbooks and no manuals for invertebrate tissue
culture, so I had to develop a method by myself. First, I considered what
type and what size of vessels are suitable for insect tissue culture. Also, I
had to look for suitable materials to construct the culture vessels. Second, I had to examine various culture media, especially growth-promoting substances, such as sera. Then I had to improve culture media by
trial and error. The procedure to set up a primary culture was also a
problem. How could I sterilize materials? How could I remove tissues
from a tiny insect? How many tissues should I pool in order to set up one
culture? I had to find out the answers. Naturally, it took a lot of time.
Have all the problems with invertebrate tissue culture techniques now
been solved? I should say no. We still do not have a proper textbook for
invertebrate tissue culture. Although many papers on invertebrate tissue
culture have been published during the last half-century, the information is widely dispersed. The papers have been published in journals in
various fields, and some of them are difficult to obtain.
In light of these conditions, I decided to compile the available information on invertebrate tissue culture techniques into a book. Some of
the techniques cited here are already classical. I believe, however, that
these old techniques will provide some ideas when attempts are made to
culture tissues from an invertebrate whose tissue has never been cultured. Development of gene technology during the last decade has been
remarkable. These new techniques are being applied to invertebrate tissue culture too. In this book I have made efforts to cite the new technology as much as possible, although the rapid pace of development makes
some omissions inevitable.
I hope that this manual will assist students and scientists working in
invertebrate tissue culture.
JUN MITSUHASHI
January 1,2001