ESTABLISHMENT AND SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF A CONTINUOUS CELL LINE DERIVED FROM FAT BODYS OF THE CABBAGE ARMYWORM (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE).

Fat bodies from fully grown larvae of the cabbage armyworm, Mamestra brassicae, were cultivated in a synthetic medium, MGM-431. Small free cells migrated out and multiplied rapidly. The first cell passage was done after culture for 26 days, and 100 passages were performed in the following 9 months. The established cell line was designated as NIAS-MaBr-85. The cell population is morphologically heterogeneous, but most of the cells are hexaploid with 180 microchromosomes. The cells could be stored for 3 months at 5°C, or for longer when frozen at -80°C in medium containing 10% glycerol. Qualitatively the cell line requires few amino acids: only cystine, histidine, isoleucine, methionine and threonine are essential as determined by omission of individual amino acids. The cells are susceptible to Chilo iridescent virus and Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus. This cell line can grow in serum-free M-M medium.