Cell culture

Cell Culture

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Cell culture

Cell culture is the process by which prokaryotic

Prokaryote

The prokaryotes are a group of organisms that lack a cell nucleus , or any other cell membrane-bound organelles. They differ from the eukaryotes, which have a cell nucleus....
or eukaryotic

Eukaryote

Animals, plants, fungus, and protists are eukaryotes , organisms whose Cell are organized into complex structures enclosed within Cell membrane....
cells are grown under controlled conditions. In practice the term "cell culture" has come to refer to the culturing of cells derived from multicellular eukaryotes, especially animal

Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the Kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life....
cells.

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Encyclopedia

Cell culture is the process by which prokaryotic

Prokaryote

The prokaryotes are a group of organisms that lack a cell nucleus , or any other cell membrane-bound organelles. They differ from the eukaryotes, which have a cell nucleus....
or eukaryotic

Eukaryote

Animal

Tissue culture

Tissue culture is the growth of biological tissue and/or cell separate from the organism. This is typically facilitated via use of a liquid, semi-solid, or solid growth medium, such as broth or agar....
and organ culture

Organ culture

Organ culture is a development from tissue culture methods of research, the organ culture is able to accurately model functions of an organ in various states and conditions by the use of the actual in vitro organ itself....
.

Animal cell culture became a common laboratory

Laboratory

A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which science research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories....
technique in the mid-1900's, but the concept of maintaining live cell lines separated from their original tissue source was discovered in the 19th century.

History

The 19th-century English physiologist Sydney Ringer

Sydney Ringer

Sydney Ringer Fellow of the Royal Society was a UK clinician and pharmacologist, best known for inventing Lactated Ringer's solution. He was born in March 1836 in Norwich, England and died following a stroke October 14, 1910, in Lastingham, Yorkshire....
developed salt solutions

Lactated Ringer's solution

Lactated Ringer's solution is a solution that is Tonicity with blood and intended for intravenous therapy. Veterinary administration may also be subcutaneous....
containing the chlorides of sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium suitable for maintaining the beating of an isolated animal heart outside of the body. In 1885 Wilhelm Roux

Wilhelm Roux

Wilhelm Roux was a Germany zoology and pioneer of experimental embryology.Roux was born and educated in Jena, Germany where he attended university and studied under Ernst Haeckel....
removed a portion of the medulla

Medulla

Medulla refers to the middle of something, and derives from the Latin word for 'marrow' .In medicine it refers to either bone marrow, the spinal cord, or more generally, the middle part of a structure ....
ry plate of an embryo

Embryo

An embryo is a multicellular organism ploidy eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, Egg , or germination....
nic chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a Domestication fowl. Recent evidence suggests that domestication of the chicken was under way in Vietnam over 10,000 years ago....
and maintained it in a warm saline solution for several days, establishing the principle of tissue culture. Ross Granville Harrison

Ross Granville Harrison

Ross Granville Harrison was an United States biologist and anatomist credited as the first to work successfully with artificial tissue culture....
, working at Johns Hopkins Medical School and then at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, Yale is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Ivy League....
, published results of his experiments from 1907-1910, establishing the methodology of tissue culture

Tissue culture

Virology

Virology is the study of virus : their structure, classification and evolution, their ways to infect and exploit cell for virus reproduction, the diseases they cause, the techniques to isolate and culture them, and their use in research and therapy....
. Growing viruses in cell cultures allowed preparation of purified viruses for the manufacture of vaccine

Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that establishes or improves immunity to a particular disease.Vaccines can be prophylaxis , or Medication ....
s. The Salk polio vaccine

Polio vaccine

Two polio vaccines are used throughout the world to combat poliomyelitis . The first was developed by Jonas Salk and first tested in 1952. Announced to the world by Salk on April 12, 1955, it consists of an injected dose of inactivated poliovirus....
was one of the first products mass-produced using cell culture techniques. This vaccine was made possible by the cell culture research of John Franklin Enders

John Franklin Enders

John Franklin Enders was an United States medical scientist and Nobel laureate.Enders was born in West Hartford, Connecticut and was educated at the Noah Webster School at Hartford and St....
, Thomas Huckle Weller

Thomas Huckle Weller

Thomas Huckle Weller was an American virologist. He, John Franklin Enders and Frederick Chapman Robbins were awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1954 for showing how to cultivate poliomyelitis viruses in a test tube, using tissue from a monkey....
, and Frederick Chapman Robbins

Frederick Chapman Robbins

Frederick Chapman Robbins was an American pediatrician and virologist.He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1954 along with John Franklin Enders and Thomas Huckle Weller....
, who were awarded a Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
for their discovery of a method of growing the virus in monkey kidney

Kidney

The kidneys are Organ that have numerous biological roles. Their primary role is to maintain the homeostasis balance of bodily fluids by filtering and secreting Metabolomics#Metabolitess and minerals from the blood and excreting them, along with water , as urine....
cell cultures.

Concepts in mammalian cell culture

Isolation of cells

Cells can be isolated from tissues for ex vivo
Ex vivo

Ex vivo means that which takes place outside an organism. In science, ex vivo refers to experimentation or measurements done in or on living tissue in an artificial environment outside the organism with the minimum alteration of the natural conditions....
culture in several ways. Cells can be easily purified from blood, however only the white cells

White blood cell

White blood cells , or leukocytes , are cell of the immune system defending the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials....
are capable of growth in culture. Mononuclear cells can be released from soft tissues by enzymatic digestion with enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are biomolecules that catalysis chemical reactions. Almost all enzymes are proteins. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called Substrate , and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, the products....
s such as collagenase

Matrix metalloproteinase

Matrix metalloproteinases are zinc-dependent endopeptidases; other family members are adamalysins, serralysins, and astacins. The MMPs belong to a larger family of proteases known as the metzincin superfamily....
, trypsin

Trypsin

Trypsin is a serine protease found in the digestive system, where it breaks down proteins. Trypsin predominantly cleaves peptide chains at the carboxyl side of the amino acids lysine and arginine, except when either is followed by proline....
, or pronase

Pronase

Pronase is a commercially available mixture of proteinases isolated from the extracellular fluid of Streptomyces griseus. Activity extends to both denatured and native proteins leading to complete or nearly complete digestion into individual amino acids....
, which break down the extracellular matrix

Extracellular matrix

In biology, the extracellular matrix is the extracellular part of animal tissue that usually provides structural support to the animal Cell in addition to performing various other important functions....
. Alternatively, pieces of tissue can be placed in growth media

Growth medium

A growth medium or culture medium is a liquid or gel designed to support the growth of microorganisms or Cell s , or small plants like the moss Physcomitrella patens ....
, and the cells that grow out are available for culture. This method is known as explant culture
Explant culture

Explant culture is a technique used for the isolation of cell from a piece or pieces of biological tissue. Tissue harvested in this manner is called an explant....
.

Cells that are cultured directly from a subject are known as primary cells. With the exception of some derived from tumours, most primary cell cultures have limited lifespan. After a certain number of population doublings cells undergo the process of senescence

Senescence

Senescence encompasses all of the biological processes of a living organism's approaching an advanced age . The word senescence is derived from the Latin word senex, meaning "old man" or "old age" or "advanced in age"....
and stop dividing, while generally retaining viability.

An established or immortalised cell line has acquired the ability to proliferate indefinitely either through random mutation or deliberate modification, such as artificial expression

Gene expression

Gene expression is the process by which inheritable information from a gene, such as the DNA sequence, is made into a functional gene product, such as protein or RNA....
of the telomerase

Telomerase

Telomerase is an enzyme that adds specific DNA sequence repeats to the 3' end of DNA strands in the telomere regions, which are found at the ends of eukaryote chromosomes....
gene

Gene

A gene is the basic unit of heredity in a living organism. All living things depend on genes. Genes hold the information to build and maintain their cell and pass genetic trait to offspring....
. There are numerous well established cell lines representative of particular cell types.

Maintaining cells in culture

Cells are grown and maintained at an appropriate temperature

Temperature

In physics, temperature is a physical property of a Physical system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the greater temperature....
and gas mixture (typically, 37°C, 5% CO₂

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalent bond to a single carbon atom. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure and exists in Earth's atmosphere in this state....
for mammalian cells) in a cell incubator

Cell incubator

A cell incubator is an apparatus used to grow and maintain cell cultures. The incubator keeps cultures at an optimal temperature and humidity. Many will also regulate the carbon dioxide and oxygen content of the atmosphere inside, in which case they are also called CO2 incubators....
. Culture conditions vary widely for each cell type, and variation of conditions for a particular cell type can result in different phenotype

Phenotype

A phenotype is any observable characteristic or trait_ of an organism: such as its morphology , development, biochemical or physiological properties, or behavior....
s being expressed.

Aside from temperature and gas mixture, the most commonly varied factor in culture systems is the growth medium. Recipes for growth media can vary in pH

pH is a measure of the Acid or Base of a solution. It is defined as the cologarithm of the Activity of dissolved hydrogen ions . Hydrogen ion activity coefficients cannot be measured experimentally, so they are based on theoretical calculations....
, glucose concentration, growth factors, and the presence of other nutrients. The growth factors used to supplement media are often derived from animal blood

Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the body's Cell s ? such as nutrients and oxygen ? and transports waste products away from those same cells....
, such as calf serum. One complication of these blood-derived ingredients is the potential for contamination of the culture with viruses or prion

Prion

A prion is an infectious disease that is comprised entirely of a reproduction, mis-folded protein. The mis-folded form of the prion protein has been implicated in a number of diseases in a variety of mammals, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans....
s, particularly in biotechnology medical applications. Current practice is to minimize or eliminate the use of these ingredients wherever possible, but this cannot always be accomplished.

Cells can be grown in suspension or adherent cultures. Some cells naturally live in suspension, without being attached to a surface, such as cells that exist in the bloodstream. There are also cell lines that have been modified to be able to survive in suspension cultures so that they can be grown to a higher density than adherent conditions would allow. Adherent cells require a surface, such as tissue culture plastic, which may be coated with extracellular matrix components to increase adhesion properties and provide other signals needed for growth and differentiation. Most cells derived from solid tissues are adherent. Another type of adherent culture is organotypic culture which involves growing cells in a three-dimensional environment as opposed to two-dimensional culture dishes. This 3D culture system is biochemically and physiologically more similar to in vivo tissue, but is technically challenging to maintain because of many factors (e.g. diffusion).

Cell line cross-contamination

Cell line cross-contamination can be a problem for scientists working with cultured cells. Studies suggest that anywhere from 15–20% of the time, cells used in experiments have been misidentified or contaminated with another cell line. Problems with cell line cross contamination even been detected in lines from the NCI-60 panel, which are used routinely for drug-screening studies. Major cell line repositories including the American Type Culture Coection (ATCC) and the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ) have received cell line submissions from researchers that were misidentified by the researcher. Such contamination poses a problem for the quality of research produced using cell culture lines, and the major repositories are now authenticating all cell line submissions. ATCC uses short tandem repeat (STR) DNA fingerprinting to authenticate its cell lines.

To address this problem of cell line cross-contamination, researchers are encouraged to authenticate their cell lines at an early passage to establish the identity of the cell line. Authentication should be repeated before freezing cell line stocks, every two months during active culturing and before any publication of research data generated using the cell lines. There are many methods for identifying cell lines including isoenzyme analysis, human lymphocyte antigen (HLA) typing and STR analysis.

Manipulation of cultured cells

As cells generally continue to divide in culture, they generally grow to fill the available area or volume. This can generate several issues:

Nutrient depletion in the growth media
Accumulation of apoptotic
Apoptosis

Apoptosis is the process of programmed cell death that may occur in multicellular organisms. Programmed Cell death involves a series of biochemical events leading to a characteristic cell Morphology and death, in more specific terms, a series of biochemical events that lead to a variety of morphological changes, including Bleb , changes...
/necrotic
Necrosis

Necrosis is the name given to premature death of cell s and living biological tissue. Necrosis is caused by external factors, such as infection, toxins, or trauma....
(dead) cells.
Cell-to-cell contact can stimulate cell cycle arrest, causing cells to stop dividing known as contact inhibition
Contact inhibition

Contact inhibition is the natural process of arresting cell growth when two or more cells come into contact with each other. Oncologists use this property to distinguish between normal and cancerous cells....
or senescence
Senescence

Senescence encompasses all of the biological processes of a living organism's approaching an advanced age . The word senescence is derived from the Latin word senex, meaning "old man" or "old age" or "advanced in age"....
.
Cell-to-cell contact can stimulate cellular differentiation
Cellular differentiation

In developmental biology, cellular differentiation is the process by which a less specialized cell becomes a more specialized cell type. Differentiation occurs numerous times during the development of a multicellular organism as the organism changes from a single zygote to a complex system of Tissue and cell types....
.

Among the common manipulations carried out on culture cells are media changes, passaging cells, and transfecting cells. These are generally performed using tissue culture methods that rely on sterile technique. Sterile technique aims to avoid contamination with bacteria, yeast, or other cell lines. Manipulations are typically carried out in a biosafety hood or laminar flow cabinet

Laminar flow cabinet

A laminar flow cabinet or laminar flow closet or tissue culture hood is a carefully enclosed bench designed to prevent contamination of semiconductor wafers, biological samples, or any particle sensitive device....
to exclude contaminating micro-organisms. Antibiotics (e.g. penicillin

Penicillin

Penicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. They are Beta-lactam antibiotics used in the treatment of bacterial infections caused by susceptible, usually Gram-positive, organisms....
and streptomycin

Streptomycin

Streptomycin is an antibiotic drug, the first of a class of drugs called aminoglycosides to be discovered, and was the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis....
) and antifungals (e.g. Amphotericin B

Amphotericin B

Amphotericin B is a polyene antifungal medication, often used intravenously for systemic fungi infections. It was originally extracted from Streptomyces Streptomyces nodosus, a hypha bacterium, in 1955 at the Squibb Institute for Medical Research from cultures of an undescribed streptomycete isolated from the soil collected in the Orinoc...
) can also be added to the growth media.

As cells undergo metabolic processes, acid is produced and the pH decreases. Often, a pH indicator

PH indicator

A pH indicator is a halochromism chemical chemical compound that is added in small amounts to a solution so that the pH of the solution can be determined easily....
is added to the medium in order to measure nutrient depletion.

Media changes

In the case of adherent cultures, the media can be removed directly by aspiration and replaced.

Passaging cells

Passaging (also known as subculture or splitting cells) involves transferring a small number of cells into a new vessel. Cells can be cultured for a longer time if they are split regularly, as it avoids the senescence associated with prolonged high cell density. Suspension cultures are easily passaged with a small amount of culture containing a few cells diluted in a larger volume of fresh media. For adherent cultures, cells first need to be detached; this is commonly done with a mixture of trypsin

Trypsin

EDTA

EDTA is a widely used acronym for the chemical compound ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid . EDTA is a polyamino carboxylic acid with the chemical formula [CH2N2]2....
, however other enzyme mixes are now available for this purpose. A small number of detached cells can then be used to seed a new culture.

Transfection and transduction

Another common method for manipulating cells involves the introduction of foreign DNA by transfection

Transfection

Transfection is the process of introducing nucleic acids into cells by non-viral methods . The term transformation is preferred to describe non-viral DNA transfer in bacteria and non-animal eukaryotic cells such as fungus, algae and plants....
. This is often performed to cause cells to express a protein

Protein expression

Protein expression is a subcomponent of gene expression. It consists of the stages after DNA has been translated into amino acid chains, which are ultimately folded into proteins....
of interest. More recently, the transfection of RNAi

RNAI

RNAI is a non-coding RNA that is an antisense repressor of the replication of some E. coli plasmids, including ColE1. Plasmid replication is usually initiated by RNAII, which acts as a primer by binding to its template DNA....
constructs have been realized as a convenient mechanism for suppressing the expression of a particular gene/protein.

DNA can also be inserted into cells using virus

Virus

Transduction (genetics)

Transduction is the process by which DNA is transferred from one bacterium to another by a virus. It also refers to the process whereby foreign DNA is introduced into another cell via a viral vector....
, infection

Infection

An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. In an infection, the infecting organism seeks to utilize the host resources to multiply ....
or transformation

Transformation (genetics)

In molecular biology, transformation is the Introduction to genetics alteration of a cell resulting from the uptake, genomic incorporation, and expression of foreign genetic material ....
. Viruses, as parasitic agents, are well suited to introducing DNA into cells, as this is a part of their normal course of reproduction.

Established human cell lines

Cell lines that originate with human

Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
s have been somewhat controversial in bioethics

Bioethics

Bioethics is the philosophical study of the ethics controversies brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, philosophy, and theology....
, as they may outlive their parent organism and later be used in the discovery of lucrative medical treatments. In the pioneering decision in this area, the Supreme Court of California

Supreme Court of California

The Supreme Court of California is the state supreme court of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and regularly holds sessions at its branch offices in Los Angeles, California and Sacramento, California....
held in Moore v. Regents of the University of California that human patients have no property rights in cell lines derived from organs removed with their consent.

Generation of hybridomas

It is possible to fuse normal cells with an immortalised cell line. This method is used to produce monoclonal antibodies. In brief, lymphocytes isolated from the spleen (or possibly blood) of an immunised

Immunization

Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an agent .When an immune system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body , it will orchestrate an immune response, but it can also develop the ability to quickly respond to a subsequent encounter ....
animal are combined with an immortal myeloma cell line (B cell lineage) to produce a hybridoma

Hybridoma

Hybridoma are cells that have been engineered to produce a desired antibody in large amounts. To produce monoclonal antibodies, B-cells are removed from the spleen of an animal that has been challenged with the relevant antigen....
which has the antibody specifity of the primary lymphoctye and the immortality of the myleoma. Selective growth medium (HA or HAT) is used to select against unfused myeloma cells; primary lymphoctyes die quickly in culture and only the fused cells survive. These are screened for production of the required antibody, generally in pools to start with and then after single cloning.

Applications of cell culture

Mass culture of animal cell lines is fundamental to the manufacture of viral vaccines and many products of biotechnology. Biological products produced by recombinant DNA

Recombinant DNA

Recombinant DNA is a form of synthetic DNA thereby combining DNA sequences that would not normally occur together. In terms of genetic modification, recombinant DNA is produced through the addition of relevant DNA into an existing organismal genome, such as the plasmid of bacteria, to code for or alter different traits for a specific purpos...
(rDNA) technology in animal cell cultures include enzymes, synthetic hormones, immunobiologicals (monoclonal antibodies

Monoclonal antibodies

Monoclonal antibodies are monospecific antibody that are identical because they are produced by one type of white blood cell that are all cloning of a single parent cell....
, interleukins, lymphokines), and anticancer agents. Although many simpler proteins can be produced using rDNA in bacterial cultures, more complex proteins that are glycosylated (carbohydrate-modified) currently must be made in animal cells. An important example of such a complex protein is the hormone erythropoietin

Erythropoietin

Erythropoietin, or its alternative erythropoetin or EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production....
. The cost of growing mammalian cell cultures is high, so research is underway to produce such complex proteins in insect

Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
cells or in higher plants.

Tissue culture and engineering

Cell culture is a fundamental component of tissue culture

Tissue culture

Tissue engineering

Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of Cell s, engineering and Materials science methods, and suitable biochemistry and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biology functions....
, as it establishes the basics of growing and maintaining cells ex vivo.

Vaccines

Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that establishes or improves immunity to a particular disease.Vaccines can be prophylaxis , or Medication ....
s for polio, measles

Measles

Measles is a infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses....
, mumps

MUMPS

MUMPS , or alternatively M, is a programming language created in the late 1960s, originally for use in the Health care. It was designed for the production of multi-user database-driven applications....
, rubella

Rubella

Rubella, commonly known as German measles, is a disease caused by Rubella virus. The name is derived from the Latin, meaning little red....
, and chickenpox

Chickenpox

Chickenpox or chicken pox is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus . It generally begins with a vesicular skin rash appearing in two or three waves, mainly on the body and head rather than the hands and becoming itchy raw pockmarks, small open sores which heal mostly without scarring....
are currently made in cell cultures. Due to the H5N1

H5N1

Influenza A virus subtype H5N1, also known as "bird flu," A or simply H5N1, is a subtype of the Influenzavirus A which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species....
pandemic

Pandemic

A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that spreads through populations across a large region; for instance a continent, or even worldwide....
threat, research into using cell culture for influenza vaccines is being funded by the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
government. Novel ideas in the field include recombinant DNA

Recombinant DNA

Recombinant DNA is a form of synthetic DNA thereby combining DNA sequences that would not normally occur together. In terms of genetic modification, recombinant DNA is produced through the addition of relevant DNA into an existing organismal genome, such as the plasmid of bacteria, to code for or alter different traits for a specific purpos...
-based vaccines, such as one made using human adenovirus (a common cold virus) as a vector, or the use of adjuvant

Adjuvant

Adjuvants are pharmacology or immunology agents that modify the effect of other agents while having few if any direct effects when given by themselves....
s.

Culture of non-mammalian cells

Plant cell culture methods

Plant cell cultures are typically grown as cell suspension cultures in liquid medium or as callus cultures

Callus (cell biology)

In biological research and biotechnology, a callus of cells is a mass of undifferentiated cells. In plant biology, callus cells are those cells that cover a plant wound....
on solid medium. The culturing of undifferentiated plant cells and calli requires the proper balance of the plant growth hormones auxin

Auxin

Auxins are a class of plant growth substance . Auxins play an essential role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in the plant life cycle, they and the behavior they played in plant growth was first revealed by a Dutch scientist named Fritz Went ....
and cytokinin

Cytokinin

Cytokinins are a class of plant growth substances that promote cell division. They are primarily involved in Cell growth, cellular differentiation, and other physiology processes....
.

Bacterial/Yeast culture methods

For bacteria and yeast, small quantities of cells are usually grown on a solid support that contains nutrients embedded in it, usually a gel such as agar, while large-scale cultures are grown with the cells suspended in a nutrient broth.

Viral culture methods

The culture of virus

Virus

A virus is a Optical microscope#Limitations of light microscopes infectious agent that is unable to grow or reproduce outside a host cell . Viruses infect all cellular life....
es requires the culture of cells of mammalian, plant, fungal or bacterial origin as hosts for the growth and replication of the virus. Whole wild type

Wild type

Wild type, sometimes written wildtype or wild-type, is the typical form of an organism, strain, gene, or characteristic as it occurs in nature....
viruses, recombinant

Recombinant DNA

Recombinant DNA is a form of synthetic DNA thereby combining DNA sequences that would not normally occur together. In terms of genetic modification, recombinant DNA is produced through the addition of relevant DNA into an existing organismal genome, such as the plasmid of bacteria, to code for or alter different traits for a specific purpos...
viruses or viral products may be generated in cell types other than their natural hosts under the right conditions. Depending on the species of the virus, infection and viral replication may result in host cell lysis and formation of a viral plaque

Viral plaque

A viral plaque is a visible structure formed within a cell culture, such as bacteriuml cultures within some nutrient medium . The bacteriophage viruses replicate and spread, thus generating regions of cell destructions known as plaques....
.

Common cell lines

Human

National Cancer Institute
National Cancer Institute

The National Cancer Institute is part of the United States Federal government's National Institutes of Health. The NCI is a federally funded research and development center, one of eight agencies that compose the United States Public Health Service in the United States Department of Health and Human Services....
's 60 cancer
Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
cell lines
ESTDAB database http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ipd/estdab/directory.html

DU145
Du145

DU145 and PC3 human prostate cancer Cell_culture#Isolation_of_cells are the "classical" cell lines of prostatic cancer. DU145 cells have moderate metastasis potential compared to PC3 cells which have high metastatic potential....
(Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is a disease in which cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. It occurs when cell s of the prostate Mutation and begin to multiply out of control....
)
Lncap
Lncap

LNCap cells are a cell line of human cells commonly used in the field of oncology. LNCaP cells are androgen-sensitive human prostate adenocarcinoma cells derived from the left supraclavicular lymph node metastasis from a 50-year-old caucasian male in 1977....
(Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is a disease in which cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. It occurs when cell s of the prostate Mutation and begin to multiply out of control....
)
MCF-7
MCF7

MCF-7 is a breast cancer cell line was isolated in 1970 from a 69-year-old Caucasian woman.In the first of two Mastectomy she received the removed tissue was benign, but five years later at her second operation a malignant adenocarcinoma was found....
(breast cancer
Breast cancer

Breast cancer is a cancer that starts in the Cell of the breast in women and men. Worldwide, breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer after lung cancer and the fifth most common cause of cancer death....
)
MDA-MB-438 (breast cancer
Breast cancer

Breast cancer is a cancer that starts in the Cell of the breast in women and men. Worldwide, breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer after lung cancer and the fifth most common cause of cancer death....
)
PC3
Pc3

PC3 and DU145 human prostate cancer Cell_culture#Isolation_of_cells are the "classical" cell lines of prostatic cancer. PC3 cells have high metastasis potential compared to DU145 cells which have a moderate metastatic potential....
(Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is a disease in which cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. It occurs when cell s of the prostate Mutation and begin to multiply out of control....
)
T47D ([breast cancer])
THP-1 (acute myeloid leukemia
Leukemia

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation of blood Cell , usually white blood cells ....
)
U87
U87

In cell biology , U87 is a human glioblastoma cell line. It has epithelial morphology , and is obtained from a stage three cancer patient....
(glioblastoma)
SHSY5Y Human neuroblastoma cells, cloned from a myeloma
Saos-2 cells
Saos-2 cells

Saos-2 are a non-transformed cell line derived from the primary osteosarcoma of an 11-year old Caucasian girl in 1973 by Fogh et al.In 1987 Rodan et al....
(bone cancer)

Primate

A primate is a member of the biological order Primates , the group that contains lemurs, the Aye-aye, Lorisidaes, galagos, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes, with the last category including humans....
cell lines

Vero (African green monkey Chlorocebus
Chlorocebus

The vervet monkeys or green monkeys are medium-sized primates from the family of Old World monkeys. There are six species currently recognized, although some classify them all as a single species with numerous subspecies....
kidney epithelial cell line initiated 1962)

Rat

Rats are various medium sized, long-tailed rodents of the Family Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus....
tumor cell lines

GH3 (pituitary tumor)
PC12
PC12 cells

PC12 is a cancer Cell_culture#Common_cell_lines derived from a pheochromocytoma of the rat adrenal medulla. PC12 cells stop dividing and terminally Cellular differentiation when treated with nerve growth factor....
(pheochromocytoma
Pheochromocytoma

A phaeochromocytoma is a neuroendocrine tumor of the Adrenal medulla of the adrenal glands , or extra-adrenal chromaffin tissue that failed to involute after birth and secretes excessive amounts of catecholamines, usually epinephrine and norepinephrine....
)

Mouse

A mouse is a small animal that belongs to one of numerous species of rodents. The best known mouse species is the House Mouse . It is also a popular pet....
cell lines

MC3T3 (embryonic calvarial)

Plant cell lines

Tobacco BY-2 cells (kept as cell suspension culture, they are model system
Model organism

A model organism is a species that is extensively studied to understand particular biology phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the organism model will provide insight into the workings of other organisms....
of plant cell)

Other species cell lines

zebrafish ZF4 and AB9
AB9

Zebrafish AB9 cells are a primary fibroblast cell line developed from fin tissue of the AB strain. These cells are commonly used for studies focusing on the biochemical and molecular properties of zebrafish....
cells.
Madin-Darby Canine Kidney
Kidney

The kidneys are Organ that have numerous biological roles. Their primary role is to maintain the homeostasis balance of bodily fluids by filtering and secreting Metabolomics#Metabolitess and minerals from the blood and excreting them, along with water , as urine....
(MDCK) epithelial cell line
Xenopus
Xenopus

Xenopus is a genus of highly aquatic frogs native to Sub-Saharan Africa. There are 18 species in the Xenopus genus. They are known collectively as African Clawed Frogs or Platanna....
A6
A6

A6, A 6 or A-6 can refer to:...
kidney epithelial cells.

List of cell lines

Cell line	Meaning	Organism	Origin tissue	Morphology	Link
293-T		Human	kidney (embryonic)		Derivative of HEK 293
3T3 cells 3T3 cells 3T3 cells come from a cell line established in 1962 by two scientists then at the Department of Pathology in the New York University School of Medicine, George Todaro and Howard Green....	"3-day transfer, inoculum 3 x 105 cells"	Mouse	embryonic fibroblast		Also known as NIH 3T3
721		Human	melanoma
9L		Rat	glioblastoma
A2780		Human	Ovary	Ovarian Cancer
A2780ADR		Human	Ovary	Adriamycin-resistant derivative
A2780cis		Human	Ovary	Cisplatin-resistant derivative
A172		human	glioblastoma	malignant glioma Glioma A glioma is a type of cancer that starts in the brain or spine. It is called a glioma because it arises from glial cells. The most common site of gliomas is the brain tumor....
A20		murine	B lymphoma Lymphoma Lymphoma is a type of cancer that originates in lymphocytes of the immune system. They often originate in lymph nodes, presenting as an enlargement of the node ....	B lymphocyte Lymphocyte A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell in the vertebrate immune system.By their appearance under the light microscope, there are two broad categories of lymphocytes, namely the large granular lymphocytes and the small lymphocytes....
A253		human	head and neck carcinoma Carcinoma A carcinoma is any malignant cancer that arises from Epithelium. Carcinomas invade surrounding tissues and organs and may Metastasis, or spread, to lymph nodes and other sites....	submandibular duct
A431		human	skin epithelium	squamous carcinoma
A-549 A549 cell A549 cells are carcinoma human Pulmonary alveolus basal lamina epithelial cell . A549 cells fall under the squamous subdivision of epithelial cells, associated with the diffusion, electrolytes, and other substances....		human	lungcarcinoma	epithelium
ALC		murine	bone marrow Bone marrow Bone marrow is the flexible biological tissue found in the hollow interior of bones. In adults, marrow in large bones produces new blood cells....	stroma
B16		murine	Melanoma Melanoma Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes which are found predominantly in skin but also in the bowel and the eye . It is one of the rarer types of skin cancer but causes the majority of skin cancer related deaths....
B35		rat	Neuroblastoma Neuroblastoma Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid cancer in childhood and the most common cancer in infancy, with an annual incidence of about 650 new cases per year in the US....
BCP-1 cells BCP-1 cells BCP-1 cells are a clonal lymphoma cell line. They were derived from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a HIV seronegative patient with a body cavity based primary effusion lymphoma ....		Human	PBMC PBMC A Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell is a blood cell having a round nucleus, such as a lymphocyte or a monocyte. These blood cells are a critical component in the immune system to fight infection and adapt to intruders....	HIV+ lymphoma
bEnd.3	brain endothelial	mouse	brain / cerebral Cortex	endothelium
BHK-21	"Baby Hamster Hamster Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily contains about 18 species, classified in six or seven genus.... Kidney Kidney The kidneys are Organ that have numerous biological roles. Their primary role is to maintain the homeostasis balance of bodily fluids by filtering and secreting Metabolomics#Metabolitess and minerals from the blood and excreting them, along with water , as urine.... Fibroblast Fibroblast A fibroblast is a type of cell that synthesizes the extracellular matrix and collagen , the structural framework for animal tissues, and play a critical role in wound healing.... cells"	Hamster Hamster Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily contains about 18 species, classified in six or seven genus....	kidney Kidney The kidneys are Organ that have numerous biological roles. Their primary role is to maintain the homeostasis balance of bodily fluids by filtering and secreting Metabolomics#Metabolitess and minerals from the blood and excreting them, along with water , as urine....	fibroblast Fibroblast A fibroblast is a type of cell that synthesizes the extracellular matrix and collagen , the structural framework for animal tissues, and play a critical role in wound healing....
BR 293		human	breast	breast cancer
BxPC3	Biopsy xenograph of pancreatic carcinoma line 3	human	pancreatic adenocarcinoma	epithelial
C3H-10T1/2		Mouse	Embryonic mesenchymal cell line
C6/36		Asian tiger mosquito Asian tiger mosquito The Asian tiger mosquito or forest day mosquito , from the mosquito family Culicidae, is characterized by its black and white striped legs, and small black and white body....	larval tissue
Cal-27		human	tongue	squamous cell carcinoma
CHO Chinese Hamster Ovary cell Chinese Hamster Ovary cells are a cell line derived from Chinese Hamster ovary cells. They are often used in biology and medicine. They were introduced in the 1960s and are used in a microbiological culture monolayer in culture flasks....	Chinese hamster ovary	hamster	Ovary	epithelium
COR-L23		Human	Lung
COR-L23/CPR		Human	Lung
COR-L23/5010		Human	Lung
COR-L23/R23		Human	Lung	Epithelial
COS-7	Cercopithecus aethiops, origin-defective SV-40	ape - Cercopithecus aethiops (Chlorocebus Chlorocebus The vervet monkeys or green monkeys are medium-sized primates from the family of Old World monkeys. There are six species currently recognized, although some classify them all as a single species with numerous subspecies.... )	kidney	fibroblast
CML T1	Chronic Myelod Leukaemia T-lymphocyte 1	human	CML acute phase	T cell leukaemia
CMT	canine mammary tumor	dog	mammary gland	epithelium
CT26		murine	Colorectal Carcinoma Carcinoma A carcinoma is any malignant cancer that arises from Epithelium. Carcinomas invade surrounding tissues and organs and may Metastasis, or spread, to lymph nodes and other sites....	Colon
D17		canine	osteosarcoma Osteosarcoma Osteosarcoma is the most common type of malignant bone cancer, accounting for 35% of primary bone malignancies. There is a preference for the metaphysis region of tubular long bones....
DH82		canine	histiocytosis	monocyte Monocyte Monocyte is a type of leukocyte, part of the human body's immune system. Monocytes have two main functions in the immune system: replenish resident macrophages and dendritic cells under normal states, and in response to inflammation signals, monocytes can move quickly to sites of infection in the tissues and divide/differentiate into mac... /macrophage Macrophage Macrophages are white blood cells within tissues, produced by the division of monocytes. Human macrophages are about 21 micrometres in diameter....
DU145		human	Androgen Androgen Androgen is the generic term for any natural or synthetic compound, usually a steroid hormone, that stimulates or controls the development and maintenance of masculine characteristics in vertebrates by binding to androgen receptors.... insensitive carcinoma Carcinoma A carcinoma is any malignant cancer that arises from Epithelium. Carcinomas invade surrounding tissues and organs and may Metastasis, or spread, to lymph nodes and other sites....	Prostate
EL4		mouse		T cell leukaemia
EM2		human	CML blast crisis	Ph+ CML line
EM3		human	CML blast crisis	Ph+ CML line
EMT6/AR1		mouse	Breast	Epithelial-like
EMT6/AR10.0		Mouse	Breast	Epithelial-like
FM3		human	Metastatic lymph node	melanoma
H1299 H1299 H1299, also known as National Cancer Institute-H1299 or CRL-5803, is a non-small cell lung carcinoma cell line derived from the lymph node, which is widely used in research....		human	lung	lung cancer
H69		Human	Lung
HB54		hybridoma Hybridoma Hybridoma are cells that have been engineered to produce a desired antibody in large amounts. To produce monoclonal antibodies, B-cells are removed from the spleen of an animal that has been challenged with the relevant antigen....	hybridoma Hybridoma Hybridoma are cells that have been engineered to produce a desired antibody in large amounts. To produce monoclonal antibodies, B-cells are removed from the spleen of an animal that has been challenged with the relevant antigen....	secretes L243 mAb (against HLA-DR)
HB55		hybridoma Hybridoma Hybridoma are cells that have been engineered to produce a desired antibody in large amounts. To produce monoclonal antibodies, B-cells are removed from the spleen of an animal that has been challenged with the relevant antigen....	hybridoma Hybridoma Hybridoma are cells that have been engineered to produce a desired antibody in large amounts. To produce monoclonal antibodies, B-cells are removed from the spleen of an animal that has been challenged with the relevant antigen....	secretes MA2.1 mAb (against HLA-A2 and HLA-B17)
HCA2		human	fibroblast
HEK-293 HEK cell Human Embryonic Kidney 293 cells, also often referred to as HEK 293, 293 cells, or less precisely as HEK cells are a specific cell line originally derived from human embryonic kidney cells grown in tissue culture....	human embryonic kidney	human	kidney (embryonic)	epithelium
HeLa Hela Hela can stand for:* Hela, an ancient name for Sri Lanka* Hela , a name for the Sinhala people of Sri Lanka* Hela means restroom in Turkish....	Henrietta Lacks	human	Cervical cancer Cervical cancer Cervical cancer is malignant cancer of the cervix uteri or cervical area. It may present with vaginal bleeding but symptoms may be absent until the cancer is in its advanced stages....	epithelium
Hepa1c1c7	clone 7 of clone 1 hepatoma line 1	mouse	Hepatoma	epithelial
HL-60	human leukemia	human	Myeloblast Myeloblast The myeloblast is a unipotent stem cell, which will differentiate into one of the actors of the granular series....	bloodcells
HMEC	human mammary epithelial cell	human		epithelium
HT-29		human	colon epithelium	adenocarcinoma
HUVEC	human umbilical vein endothelial cells	human	Umbilical cord vein	endothelium
Jurkat Jurkat cells Jurkat cells are an Biological_immortality#Cell_lines of T lymphocyte cells that are used to study acute T cell leukemia, Cell signaling, and the expression of various chemokine receptors susceptible to viral entry, particularly HIV....		human	T-Cell-Leukemia Leukemia Leukemia is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow and is characterized by an abnormal proliferation of blood Cell , usually white blood cells ....	white blood cells
JY cells		human	lymphoblastoid	EBV immortalised B cell
K562 cells K562 cells K562 cells were the first human immortalised myelogenous leukaemia line to be established and are a bcr:abl positive erythroleukamia line derived from a 53 year old female CML patient in blast crisis ....		human	lymphoblastoid	CML blast crisis
Ku812		human	lymphoblastoid	erythroleukemia
KCL22		human	lymphoblastoid	CML
KG1		human	lymphoblastoid	AML
KYO1	Kyoto 1	human	lymphoblastoid	CML
LNCap Lncap LNCap cells are a cell line of human cells commonly used in the field of oncology. LNCaP cells are androgen-sensitive human prostate adenocarcinoma cells derived from the left supraclavicular lymph node metastasis from a 50-year-old caucasian male in 1977....		human	prostatic adenocarcinoma	epithelium
Ma-Mel 1, 2, 3....48		human		a range of melanoma cell lines
MC-38		mouse		adenocarcinoma
MCF-10A	Michigan Cancer Foundation	human	mammary gland	epithelium
MDA-231		human	breast	cancer
MDA-468		human	breast	cancer
MDA-MB-435		human	breast	melanoma or carcinoma (disputed)
MDCK II	Madin Darby canine kidney	dog	kidney	epithelium
MDCK II	Madin Darby canine kidney	dog	kidney	epithelium
MOR/0.2R		Human	Lung
MONO-MAC 6		human	WBC	myeloid metaplasic AML AML AML is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below:* A Manufacturing Language is an interactive structured robot programming language developed by IBM....
MTD-1A		mouse		epithelium
MyEnd	myocardial endothelial	mouse		endothelium
NCI-H69/CPR		Human	Lung
NCI-H69/LX10		Human	Lung
NCI-H69/LX20		Human	Lung
NCI-H69/LX4		Human	Lung
NIH-3T3	NIH National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research.... , 3-day transfer, inoculum 3 x 10⁵ cells	mouse	embryo	fibroblast
NALM-1			peripheral blood	blast-crisis CML
NW-145				melanoma
OPCN / OPCT cell lines	Onyvax Prostate Cancer....			Range of prostate tumour lines
Peer Peer Peer may refer to:A member of the peerage, a system of honours or nobility in various countries;A variant of the name Peter in Scandinavic languages;...		human	T cell leukemia
PNT-1A / PNT 2				Prostate tumour lines
RenCa	Renal Carcinoma	mouse		renal carcinoma
RMA/RMAS		mouse		T cell tumour
Saos-2 cells Saos-2 cells Saos-2 are a non-transformed cell line derived from the primary osteosarcoma of an 11-year old Caucasian girl in 1973 by Fogh et al.In 1987 Rodan et al....		human		Osteosarcoma
Sf-9	Spodoptera frugiperda	insect - Spodoptera frugiperda (moth)	Ovary
SkBr3		human		breast carcinoma
T2		human		T cell leukemia/B cell line hybridoma
T84		human	colorectal Carcinoma / lungmetastasis	epithelium
THP1 cell line THP1 cell line THP1 : This product is used to test leukemia cell lines in immunocytochemistry analysis of protein-protein interaction, and immunohistochemistry....		human	monocyte	AML
U373		human	glioblastoma-astrocytoma	epithelium
U87		human	glioblastoma-astrocytoma	epithelial-like
U937		human	leukaemic monocytic lymphoma
Vero cells	'Vera Redno' ('green kidney') / 'Vero' ('truth')	African Green Monkey	kidney epithelium
WM39		human	skin	primary melanoma
WT-49		human	lymphoblastoid
X63		mouse	melanoma
YAC-1		mouse	lymphoma
YAR		human	B-cell	EBV transofrmed

Note: this list is a sample of available cell lines, and is not comprehensive

External links

Med Hist. 1983 July; 27(3): 269–288.
(NCCS), Pune, India; national repository for cell lines/hybridomas etc.

Cell culture

History

Concepts in mammalian cell culture

Isolation of cells

Maintaining cells in culture

Cell line cross-contamination

Manipulation of cultured cells

Media changes

Passaging cells

Transfection and transduction

Established human cell lines

Generation of hybridomas

Applications of cell culture

Tissue culture and engineering

Vaccines

Culture of non-mammalian cells

Plant cell culture methods

Bacterial/Yeast culture methods

Viral culture methods

Common cell lines

List of cell lines

See also

External links