8 Biotechnology- Biology for Human Welfare
8.6 Animal Tissue Culture
Animal Cell culture
Dr V Malathi
The process of cultivating animal cells, tissues, or organs outside of the body in a regulated, artificial environment is known as animal tissue culture. This procedure has several uses in research, medicine, and biotechnology and allows the controlled study of cell behavior, biology, and function.Connective tissues including fibroblasts, skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle, epithelial tissues, neuronal cells, endocrine cells, and numerous tumor cell types are among the various cell types that may currently be cultivated in culture.
For in vitro growth of cells, the culture conditions may not mimic in vivo conditions with respect to temperature, pH, CO2, O2, osmolality, and nutrition. In addition, the cultured cells require sterile conditions along with a
steady supply of nutrients for growth and sophisticated incubation conditions
“Image of cell culture dish” is in the Public Domain, CC0
First animal cell culturing on Industrial scale
First animal cell culture was performed at an industrial scale in 1950s .The polio epidemic in 1940s and 1950s and the accompanying requirement for viral vaccines necessitated the the need for cell cultures on a large scale . The polio vaccine from a deactivated virus became one of the first commercial products developed from cultured animal cells
Applications of Animal cell culture
Animal cell cultures provided a model system for various research like:
- The study of basic cell biology, cell cycle mechanisms, specialized cell function, cell to cell and cell – matrix
interactions. - Toxicity testing to study the effects of new drugs.
- Gene therapy for replacing nonfunctional genes with functional gene-carrying cells.
- The characterization of cancer cells, the role of various chemicals, viruses, and radiation in cancer cells.
- Production of vaccines, mono clonal antibodies, and pharmaceutical drugs.
- Production of viruses for use in vaccine production (e.g., chicken pox, polio, rabies, hepatitis B, and measles).
- For manufacturing biological therapeutics such as hormones, antibodies, interferons, clotting factors, and
vaccines
Culture media
One of the most important factors in animal cell culture is the medium composition. In vitro growth and maintenance of animal cells require appropriate nutritional, hormonal, and stromal factors that resemble their in vivo condition as closely as possible.
The other important factors include : the medium in which the cells are surrounded, the substratum upon which the cells grow, temperature, oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration, pH, and osmolality. In addition, the cell requires chemical substances that cannot be synthesized by the cells themselves.
Any successful medium is composed of isotonic, low-molecular-weight compounds known as basal medium and provides inorganic salts, an energy source, amino acids, and various supplements
Basic components in culture media
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