Potential for cell culture techniques as a wildlife management tool for screening primary repellents

The identification of new chemical repellents for wildlife damage management is impeded by the need to perform cumbersome and expensive behavioral tests. Here, we report the development of in vitro cell culture methods to increase the speed and efficiency of repellent screening while reducing costs, as well as the number of animals necessary for research. Our methods exploit the fact that effective primary repellents depend on the stimulation of pain receptors. We cultured trigeminal nociceptors (pain receptors) from Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus, laboratory strain), white leghorn chicken (Gallus gallus), coyote (Canis latrans), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and Canada goose (Branta canadensis), and then applied digital fluorescence microscopy to measure changes in intracellular calcium (an index of cellular activation) in response to applications of known and effective repellents. Capsaicin, bradykinin and acetylcholine were more effective stimuli for rat, coyote, and deer neurons than cells from chicken.