Cell culture applications

Several different bioreactor configurations have been described for use in cell culture and fermentation applications. These include stirred tanks, airlift, and hoUow-fiber systems. The majority of bioreactor systems in use for cell culture applications are still of the stirred-tank type. These systems have been used for batch, fed-batch, and perfusion operations. It would not be possible to adequately cover the field of stirred-tank scale-up in the space available here. Instead, this section will touch briefly on the important issues in bioreactor scale-up. For detailed methodologies on stirred-tank bioreactor scale-up, the reader is referred to several review papers on the topic [20,27,28]. 

Welle, A., Gottwald, E., UV-Based patterning of polymeric substrates for cell culture applications. Biomed. Microdevices 2002, 4(1), 33-41. 

Plieva, F. M., Galaev, I. Y, and Mattiasson, B. Macroporous gels prepared at subzero temperatures as novel materials for chromatography of particulate-containing fluids and cell culture applications. J Sep Sci, 30,1657-1671 (2007). 

In practical cell culture applications, fluid flow methods of estimating cell adhesion have been most useful. In particular, the radial flow chamber shown in Fig. 12.14 was developed to study both deposition and removal of cells at surfaces. The apparatus has been used to measure adhesion of many cell types to different surfaces, including diatoms and pseudomonas fluorescens. ... 

Pfleging W, Bruns M, Welle A, Wilson S. Laser-assisted modification of polystyrene siufaces for cell culture applications. Appl Surf Sd 2007 253 9177-84. 

Among the polymers available, polycarbonate is the material of choice when small dimensions in micrometer scale need to be reprodudbly realized with high aspect ratios. Standard Makrolon polycarbonate is characterized by a high transparency from 400 to 1650 nm. Biological inertia, high heat resistance (e.g., sterilization conditions) and good form stability make the material ideal for cell culture applications. Polycarbonate is far less brittle than other thermoplastic polymers, thus making the material resistant to shocks and breaks. Hence, the properties of polycarbonate ideally serve to manufacture... 

As demonstrated above, polymer micropatterned with plasma or UV irradiation can be used without any further treatment for cell culture application. However, functional groups created at the modified surface can be subsequently used for the selective graft coupling of biomolecules, suitable for cell adhesion enhancement [62]. 

A. Ohl, and K. Schroder, Plasma-induced chemical micropatterning for cell culturing applications A brief review. Surf Coat Tech, 116, 820-830, 1999. 

A. Welle, E. Gottwald, and K.F. Weibezahn, Patterned polymer surfaces for cell culture applications, Biomed Tech (Berl), 47,401-403,2002. 

H. J., Bruns, M and Welle, A. (2007) Laser-assisted modification of polymers for microfluidic, microoptics and cell culture applications. Proc. SPIE, 6459, 645911-1-645911-9. 

Even though these special application examples demonstrate the scalability of the technology, and although airlift reactors have long been used for shear-sensitive cell-culture applications, the CSTR design has become the standard for microbial and mammalian cell suspension culture. Its design is versatile, and cultivations can be scaled from the laboratory to pilot scale and to up to 300 m in fully contained sterile fermenters. 

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