Fish Bone-Derived Cell Lines: An Alternative In Vitro Cell System To Study Bone Biology

P>Human bone diseases represent a major health problem worldwide and effective therapies have still to be developed. Despite numerous studies using mammalian systems, cellular and molecular processes governing bone and cartilage homeostasis in vertebrates are still not fully understood. Recently, fish have emerged as a suitable model and a promising alternative to the classical mammalian systems to study vertebrate development, in particular skeletogenesis. To complement in vivo developmental studies and identify signalling pathways involved in development processes, fish cell lines have been developed, in particular bone-derived cells. This work intends to review what is presently known about fish bone-derived cell lines, focusing on their relevance for bone biology studies.