A dual enzyme disaggregation method using collagenase and then trypsin was developed that allowed the reproducible initiation of primary cultures from Atlantic salmon Salmo salar gills. Cultures had both epithelial and fibroblast morphology and persisted for an average of 20 passages. Growth was dependent upon a minimum concentration of 5% foetal calf serum (FCS) for fibroblasts and 10% FCS for epithelial cells. Growth was mos...

Neoparamoeba sp., including the putative aetiological agent of amoebic gill disease in cultured fish ( N. pemaquidensis ), were incubated in vitro with an Atlantic salmon gill epithelium (RGE‐2) cell line. Proliferation by the amoeba population was dependent upon culture osmolarity; no growth occurred at 330 m m kg −1 but a sixfold increase was observed at 1000 m m kg −1 . At 780 m m kg −1 there was a fourfold increase in the...

Previous studies have indicated that Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., affected by amoebic gill disease (AGD) are resistant to re‐infection. These observations were based upon a comparison of gross gill lesion abundance between previously infected and naïve control fish. Anecdotal evidence from Atlantic salmon farms in southern Tasmania suggests that previous infection does not protect against AGD as indicated by a lack of temp...