Sponges are among the most primitive multicellular organisms and well-known as a major source of marine natural products. Cultivation of sponge cells has long been an attractive topic due to the prominent evolutionary and cytological significance of sponges and as a potential approach to supply sponge-derived compounds. Sponge cell culture is carried out through culturing organized cell aggregates called ‘primmorphs.’ Most research culturing sponge cells has used unfractionated cells to develop primmorphs. In the current study, a tropical marine sponge Axinella sp., which contains the bioactive alkaloids, debromohymenialdisine (DBH), and hymenialdisine (HD), was used to obtain fractionated cells and the corresponding primmorphs. These alkaloids, DBH and HD, reportedly show pharmacological activities for treating osteoarthritis and Alzheimer’s disease. Three different cell fractions were obtained, including enriched spherulous cells, large mesohyl cells, and small epithelial cells. These cell fractions were cultivated separately, forming aggregates that later developed into different kinds of primmorphs. The three kinds of primmorphs obtained were compared as regards to appearance, morphogenesis, and cellular composition. Additionally, the amount of alkaloid in the primmorphs-culture system was examined over a 30-d culturing period. During the culturing of enriched spherulous cells and developed primmorphs, the total amount of alkaloid declined notably. In addition, the speculation of alkaloid secretion and some phenomena that occurred during cell culturing are discussed.

海绵是最原始的多细胞生物之一，是众所周知的海洋天然产物的主要来源。由于海绵具有突出的进化和细胞学意义，并且作为提供海绵衍生化合物的潜在方法，海绵细胞的培养长期以来一直是一个有吸引力的话题。海绵细胞培养是通过培养被称为“原形”的有组织的细胞聚集体来进行的。大多数培养海绵细胞的研究都使用未分级的细胞来培养原形。在目前的研究中，热带海洋海绵Axinellasp. 含有生物活性生物碱 debromohymenialdisine (DBH) 和 hymenialdisine (HD)，用于获得分级细胞和相应的原始形态。据报道，这些生物碱 DBH 和 HD 显示出治疗骨关节炎和阿尔茨海默病的药理活性。获得了三种不同的细胞级分，包括富集的球状细胞、大中细胞和小上皮细胞。这些细胞部分分别培养，形成聚集体，后来发展成不同种类的原形。对获得的三种原始形态进行了外观、形态发生和细胞组成的比较。此外，在 30 天的培养期内检查了 primmorphs 培养系统中生物碱的含量。在丰富的球状细胞培养和原始形态的培养过程中，生物碱总量显着下降。此外，还讨论了生物碱分泌的推测以及细胞培养过程中出现的一些现象。