Background: Although an understanding of the proliferation and differentiation of fish female germline stem cells (GSCs) is very important, an appropriate threedimensional (3D) research model to study them is not well established. As a part of the development of stable 3D culture system for fish female GSCs, we conducted this study to establish a 3D aggregate culture system of ovarian cells in marine medaka, Oryzias dancena. Methods: Ovarian cells were separated by Percoll density gradient centrifugation and two different cell populations were cultured in suspension to form ovarian cell aggregates to find suitable cell populations for its formation. Ovarian cell aggregates formed from different cell populations were evaluated by histology and gene expression analyses. To evaluate the media supplements, ovarian cell aggregate culture was performed under different media conditions, and the morphology, viability, size, gene expression, histology, and E2 secretion of ovarian cell aggregates were analyzed. Results: Ovarian cell aggregates were able to be formed well under specific culture conditions that used ultra-low attachment 96 well plate, complete mESM2, and the cell populations from top to 50% layers after separation of ovarian cells. Moreover, they were able to maintain minimal ovarian function such as germ cell maintenance and E2 synthesis for a short period. Conclusions: We established basic conditions for the culture of O. dancena ovarian cell aggregates. Additional efforts will be required to further optimize the culture conditions so that the ovarian cell aggregates can retain the improved ovarian functions for a longer period of time.

Paired box protein, PAX7, is a key molecule for the specification, maintenance and skeletal muscle regeneration of muscle satellite cells. In this study, we identified and characterized the cDNA and amino acid sequences of PAX7 from black sea bream (Acanthopagrus schlegelii ) via molecular cloning and sequence analysis. A. schlegelii PAX7 cDNA was comprised of 1,524 bp encoding 507 amino acids and multiple sequence alignment analysis of the translated amino acids showed that it contained three domains including paired DNA-binding domain, homeobox domain and OAR domain which were well conserved across various animal species investigated. Pairwise Sequence Alignment indicated that A. schlegelii PAX7 had the same amino acid sequences with that of yellowfin seabream (A. latus ) and 99.8% identity and similarity with that of gilt-head bream (Sparus aurata ). Molecular phylogenetic analysis confirmed that A. schlegelii PAX7 formed a monophyletic group with those of teleost and most closely related with those of the fish that belong to Sparidae family including A. latus and S. aurata . In the investigation of its tissue specific mRNA expression, the expression was specifically identified in skeletal muscle tissue and a weak expression was also shown in gonad tissue. The cultured cells derived from skeletal muscle tissues expressed PAX7 mRNA at early passage but the expression was not observed after several times of subculture.

Karyotype analysis is a major work in the process of triploid abalone production for the purpose of productivity and quality improvement. However, the metaphase spreads for karyotype analysis have been prepared just from the larvae at trochophore stage, which has restricted the spectrum of sample correction inhibiting more efficient analysis. Here, we investigated the feasibility of preparing metaphase spreads from the larvae at veliger stage that is the next developmental stage of trochophore. For this, diploid and triploid larvae at trochophore and veliger stages from Pacific abalone (Haliotis discus hannai ) were subjected to metaphase spread preparation and its efficiencies were measured and compared each other. As the results, although the efficiencies of metaphase spread preparation were significantly lower in the larvae at veliger stage compared to the ones at trochophore stage regardless of ploidy status, we found that the preparation of metaphase spreads, which showed the clear chromosomal images containing the normal number of chromosomes, was possible from the veliger stage larvae. On the other hands, all larvae used in this study regardless of developmental stage and ploidy did not show colchicine sensitivity. Moreover, no significant difference was observed in cell cycle distribution of the cells comprising larvae between two developmental stages regardless of ploidy status. These suggested that the details of protocol to prepare metaphase spreads from abalone larvae should be optimized depending on its developmental stages. Taken together, we demonstrated the feasibility of preparing metaphase spreads from H. discus hannai veliger stage larvae for karyotype analysis.

Although the efforts to establish fish embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have been made for a long time, derivation of authentic ESCs that possess pluripotency is still difficult suggesting a need for the stepwise optimization of the methods to establish fish ESCs. Primary culture of the blastomeres from the embryos at blastula stage is a critical step for establishing continuous ESC lines. Here, we evaluated the effects of temperatures and basal media on primary culture of blastula embryo-derived blastomeres in marine medaka (Oryzias dancena). The blastomeres were isolated from the blastula embryos and cultured in various conditions designed by the combination of 4 temperatures including 28°C, 31°C, 34°C, and 37°C and 2 basal media including Dulbecco’s modified eagle’s medium (DMEM) and Leibovitz’s L-15 medium (L15). With the exception of a case cultured in L15 at 31°C, the rate of primary cell adherence reached 100% when the blastomeres were cultured over 31°C. The period for primary adherence was significantly shorter in the groups cultured in 34°C and 37°C than in the ones in 28°C and 31°C. The proportion of subculture was significantly high in the group cultured in DMEM at 31°C compared to the other groups. Collectively, we demonstrated that the culture in DMEM at 31°C was effective to primary culture of the blastomeres derived from blastula embryos.

Cerebral infarction is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and the most common cause of death from a singledisease in South Korea. Each year, 795,000 people in the U.S. experience a new or recurrent stroke. Approximately 15-30% of cerebral infarctions are of embolic origin related to cardiac abnormalities. Because determination of the etiology of cerebral infarction is crucial to acute management and future prevention, clinicians should pay attention to finding the cardiac source of embolism in patients with cerebral infarction. We report on a case of cerebral infarction by a small papillary fibroelastoma on the mitral valve. The patient was treated with open heart surgery and closure of the patent foramen ovale to prevent further embolic events.