搅拌式生物反应器中造血细胞的灌注培养

为了消除造血细胞静态培养中存在的浓度梯度和搅拌悬浮培养时换液引起的波动,为造血细胞体外扩增提供更理想的培养环境和操作方式,利用自主开发的造血细胞重力沉降截留系统结合有溶氧和pH控制的生物反应器进行了脐血造血细胞的灌注培养。两次灌注培养中总细胞分别扩增11.5和18.6倍,扩增倍数最大时,CFU-Mix分别扩增23.2倍和20.4倍、 CFU-GM扩增13.9倍和21.5倍、BFU-E 扩增8.0倍和6.9倍、CD34⁺细胞扩增17.1倍和15.4倍。培养到12d时,第一次实验由267×10⁶单个核细胞扩增得到1082×10⁶个总细胞,6.31×10⁶个CFU-GM,6.2×10⁶个CFU-Mix和23×10⁶个CD34⁺细胞;第二次实验由180×10⁶单个核细胞扩增得到1.080×10⁶个总细胞,4.65×10⁶个CFU-GM,11.0×10⁶个CFU-Mix和25.0×10⁶个CD34⁺细胞,这达到了临床规模,由于控制了较低的溶氧和稳定的培养环境,细胞中干/祖细胞含量显著高于方瓶。但灌注培养到后期细胞密度达到较高后,细胞生长受到抑制,这应该是由细胞密度过高本身所引起。搅拌式反应器中进行灌注培养有利于造血干/祖细胞的进一步扩增,培养得到的细胞中干/祖细胞含量较高,培养规模达到了临床要求,但过高的细胞密度将对造血细胞的生长产生抑制。     

体外培养脐血单个核细胞与CD34+富集细胞

对比MNC和CD34⁺富集细胞在SCF+IL-3+IL-6+FL+Tpo细胞因子组合下的体外扩增特性,发现：CD34⁺富集细胞具有很高的扩增潜力,在本实验条件下其总细胞持续扩增了8周,扩增倍数达31270.9±8640.5倍;而MNC在培养至第4周扩增就已呈现下降趋势,最大仅扩增了53.3±6.2倍。对比集落和CD34⁺细胞的扩增发现,MNC的集落密度和CD34⁺细胞含量由第0天至第7天有一个上升的过程,而CD34⁺富集细胞在培养过程中,集落密度和CD34⁺细胞含量却始终呈下降趋势。在体外培养过程中,CD34⁺富集细胞的CFU-GM和CD34⁺细胞最大分别扩增了185.7±14.1和191.7±188.8倍,明显高于MNC的12.4±3.2和50.6±33.2倍;而CD34⁺富集细胞和MNC的BFU-E则只实现了少量扩增,分别为7.2±5.2和10.1±3.4倍。结果显示,从CD34⁺富集细胞出发扩增造血干/祖细胞,可以得到更多的CD34⁺细胞和CFU-GM集落形成细胞。      

一种新型生物反应器在造血干/祖细胞体外扩增中的应用

针对造血干/祖细胞体外扩增对培养环境的需求, 结合静/动态培养的特点, 开发了一种新型的生物反应器用于造血干/祖细胞的体外扩增.在该生物反应器内, 采用SCF TPO Flt-3细胞因子组合, 比较了静态和循环培养两种方式体外扩增脐血CD34 细胞的效果.培养7 d后, 总细胞分别扩增了(13.86 ± 4.26)和(7.23 ± 2.67)倍, 显示静态培养有利于总细胞的扩增; CD34 细胞扩增倍数、培养物中CD34 细胞含量均相近, 无显著性差异; 而CD34 CD38-细胞扩增倍数以及培养物中CD34 CD38-细胞的百分含量分别为(1.82 ± 0.58)和(3.90 ± 0.85)倍以及(9.45 ± 4.85)和(37.47 ± 14.06)%, 循环培养明显高于静态培养.可见, 在该生物反应器内, 采用静态和循环两种培养方式, 均能实现造血干/祖细胞的体外扩增, 但静态培养促使造血干细胞向定向祖细胞分化, 而循环培养则更有利于早期造血干细胞的扩增.     

一种新型生物反应器在造血干/祖细胞体外扩增中的应用

针对造血干/祖细胞体外扩增对培养环境的需求, 结合静/动态培养的特点, 开发了一种新型的生物反应器用于造血干/祖细胞的体外扩增。在该生物反应器内, 采用SCF+TPO+Flt-3细胞因子组合, 比较了静态和循环培养两种方式体外扩增脐血CD34+细胞的效果。培养7 d后, 总细胞分别扩增了(13.86 ± 4.26)和(7.23 ± 2.67)倍, 显示静态培养有利于总细胞的扩增; CD34+细胞扩增倍数、培养物中CD34+细胞含量均相近, 无显著性差异; 而CD34+CD38-细胞扩增倍数以及培养物中CD34+CD38?细胞的百分含量分别为(1.82 ± 0.58)和(3.90 ± 0.85)倍以及(9.45 ± 4.85)和(37.47 ± 14.06)%, 循环培养明显高于静态培养。可见, 在该生物反应器内, 采用静态和循环两种培养方式, 均能实现造血干/祖细胞的体外扩增, 但静态培养促使造血干细胞向定向祖细胞分化, 而循环培养则更有利于早期造血干细胞的扩增。     

人树突状细胞的大量培养及鉴定

摘要 目的：探讨人树突状细胞体外大量培养及鉴定方法。方法：采用免疫磁珠法分离纯化CD34⁺干细胞;采用含有TPO、SCF、Flt3L和IL-3的扩增培养基培养1周,以及含有SCF、Flt3L、GM-CSF和IL-4的分化培养基培养2-3周,获得CD34⁺细胞来源树突状细胞。采用普通光学显微镜观察细胞形态,牛鲍氏血细胞计数板进行细胞计数,荧光抗体标记、流式细胞仪检测细胞纯度和细胞表面共刺激分子的表达情况。结果：以含有TPO、SCF、Flt3L和IL-3的培养基扩展培养一周,及含有SCF、Flt3L、GM-CSF和IL-4的培养基诱导分化3周,可获得大量悬浮细胞;细胞数目扩增倍数约达50倍;普通光学显微镜下可见悬浮细胞有明显的树突状凸起;流式细胞术检测结果显示悬浮细胞中CD141和CD11c双阳性细胞（等同于单核细胞来源树突状细胞）比例达30%,此群细胞高表达HLA-DR和CD209,低表达共刺激分子CD80和CD86;细胞寿命较短,40天时培养体系中悬浮细胞和CD34⁺细胞来源树突状细胞数目急剧减少。结论：采用多细胞因子联合刺激可获得大量的树突状细胞,为树突状细胞的特性及功能学研究奠定了基础。     

单克隆来源的小鼠胎肝HPP-CFC肝上皮分化潜能的研究

为研究胎肝中造血和肝上皮发育的关系,建立了小鼠胎肝高增殖潜能集落形成细胞（HPP-CFC）培养体系,并进行了单克隆培养以及诱导分化实验.在造血和肝诱导因子的共同作用下,对单克隆来源的HPP集落细胞向造血和肝上皮细胞进行诱导分化,采用透射电镜(TEM)、巢式RT-PCR、细胞免疫荧光检测,从细胞形态、超微结构、上皮细胞分化标志等方面对分化后的细胞进行检测.检测结果显示诱导后的部分细胞具有肝细胞特异性的超微结构并不同程度的表达白蛋白（ALB）、甲胎蛋白（AFP）、细胞角蛋白（CK8,CK18）等肝上皮分化标志,同时还表达间质标志α-SMA和血管内皮细胞标志Flk-1.免疫磁珠分选表明：胎肝来源的HPP-CFC主要来自于CD45⁺细胞,CD45^-细胞不具有形成造血克隆的能力.在肝上皮细胞分化潜能上,流式分选获得的CD49f⁺/Sca-1⁺细胞与未分选细胞无明显差异.该模型的克隆源性通过细胞混合实验进行证明.研究结果表明,改进的胎肝来源的HPP-CFC可能代表了一个新的造血向肝上皮细胞分化的单克隆模型,为研究胎肝中造血和非造血细胞的发育关系提供了一个新的切入点.     

悬浮培养HEK-293 N3S细胞生产重组腺病毒Ad-GFP的实验研究

利用5L生物反应器悬浮培养HEK-293 N3S细胞生产携带绿色荧光蛋白基因的重组腺病毒(recombinant adenovirus-green fluorescent protein,Ad-GFP),为规模化生产腺病毒基因药物建立一种稳定可行的生产工艺。复苏的种子细胞进行逐级放大最后接入5L搅拌式生物反应器中,采用含5％胎牛血清（FBS）的DMEM/F12培基灌流培养293 N3S细胞,当细胞密度达到(2～4)×10⁶个/mL时感染Ad-GFP,48h后收获细胞,经两步氯化铯超速离心获得纯化的Ad-GFP。采用紫外分光光度计比色法和高压液相色谱法（HPLC）测定病毒颗粒数和纯度,采用组织培养半数感染剂量（TCID₅₀）法检测腺病毒的感染滴度。连续培养10～12d,细胞密度可达到(2～4)×10⁶6个/mL左右,纯化的Ad-GFP感染滴度和颗粒数分别为1.0×10¹¹IU/mL和1.68×10¹²VP/mL,比活性为6.0%,A₂₆₀A₂₈₀比值为1.33,产品纯度达到99.2%。建立了5L生物反应器悬浮培养293 N3S细胞生产重组腺病毒Ad-GFP的生产工艺,对携带其他基因的重组腺病毒药物生产具有一定的指导意义。     

脐带间充质干细胞联合UM171对脐血源CD34~+细胞的扩增效果研究

目的研究脐带间充质干细胞联合UM171对脐血来源CD34~+细胞的扩增效果。方法脐血来源CD34~+细胞及脐带来源间充质干细胞分为以下4组进行体外扩增培养10 d:对照组、UM171培养组、间充质干细胞共培养组、UM171联合间充质干细胞共培养组,采用方差分析比较不同组别间细胞扩增倍数及流式表型和集落培养情况。结果脐带间充质干细胞CD105,CD73,CD90,不表达CD14,CD34,CD19,CD45,HLA-DR,经过诱导可以向成骨细胞、脂肪细胞、软骨细胞分化。CD34~+细胞在不同条件下体外培养10 d后,UM171培养组总有核细胞数扩增14倍,CD34~+细胞扩增13.5倍;MSCs共培养组总有核细胞数扩增11倍,CD34~+细胞扩增10倍;联合培养组总有核细胞数扩增达22倍,CD34~+细胞扩增21倍。联合培养组扩增后细胞CD34~+CD38~-比例达(91.49±2.67)﹪,较间充质干细胞培养组(78.11±2.35)﹪及UM171培养组(91.49±2.68)﹪相比差异具有统计学意义(P均0.01)。扩增后细胞集落培养14 d后,各系集落形成良好,UM171扩增组细胞较MSCs扩增组在红系及粒系形成能力方面存在优势。结论脐带血间充质干细胞作为细胞滋养层可提高CD34~+细胞体外扩增效果,UM171在扩增过程中可较好的保持细胞干性,二者联合应用扩增效果最佳,建立的脐带间充质干细胞联合UM171对脐血源CD34~+细胞的扩增方法可用于CD34~+细胞体外扩增培养。     

体外培养脐血单个核细胞与CD34+富集细胞

对比MNC和CD34 +富集细胞在SCF +IL 3+IL 6 +FL +Tpo细胞因子组合下的体外扩增特性 ,发现 :CD34 +富集细胞具有很高的扩增潜力 ,在本实验条件下其总细胞持续扩增了 8周 ,扩增倍数达 312 70 9± 86 40 5倍 ;而MNC在培养至第 4周扩增就已呈现下降趋势 ,最大仅扩增了 5 3 3± 6 2倍。对比集落和CD34 +细胞的扩增发现 ,MNC的集落密度和CD34 +细胞含量由第 0天至第 7天有一个上升的过程 ,而CD34 +富集细胞在培养过程中 ,集落密度和CD34 +细胞含量却始终呈下降趋势。在体外培养过程中 ,CD34 +富集细胞的CFU GM和CD34 +细胞最大分别扩增了 185 7± 14 1和 191 7± 188 8倍 ,明显高于MNC的 12 4± 3 2和 5 0 6± 33 2倍 ;而CD34 +富集细胞和MNC的BFU E则只实现了少量扩增 ,分别为 7 2± 5 2和 10 1± 3 4倍。结果显示 ,从CD34 +富集细胞出发扩增造血干 祖细胞 ,可以得到更多的CD34 +细胞和CFU GM集落形成细胞     

微载体高密度培养Vero细胞的研究

微载体是动物细胞高密度培养的有效手段。首先在硅化的方瓶中对Cytodex 1、Cy-todex 3、Biosilon、Bellco Glass Microcarrier、CT-1、CT-3、MC-1、CT-28种国产和进口微载体进行了比较和筛选。确定以Biosilon作为Vero细胞高密度培养的首选微载体。用500mlWheaton搅拌瓶探索影响Vero细胞高密度培养的条件,表明50～60mg/ml的微载体浓度、1～2×10⁶/ml的细胞接种密度、适当的通气(95％O_2+5％CO₂)对该细胞的高密度培养具有重要意义。在200ml培养体积的Wheaton搅拌瓶中,微载体浓度为50～60mg/ml,细胞接种密度为9.24×10⁵/ml,搅拌速度为65～85r/min,经25d培养,Vero细胞密度可达2.34×10⁷/ml,表明50～60mg/ml的微载体浓度对培养细胞没有毒性。接着在1.5L CelliGen生物反应器中进行培养,细胞接种密度为4.98×10⁵/ml,培养体积为1.2L,日灌流量从0.20L逐渐加大到3.65L,经22d连接灌流培养,最终细胞密度可达2.05×10⁷/ml。     

Ex vivo expansion and clonality of CD34+ selected cells from bone marrow and cord blood in a serum-free media

Although umbilical cord blood is increasingly being used in allogeneic marrow transplantation, delayed platelet engraftment is often a concern for cord blood transplant recipients. We evaluated the potential of ex vivo expansion and clonality in CD34+ cells separated from a bone marrow source, and cord blood, in a serum-free Media. The CD34+ cells, selected from bone marrow (BM) and umbilical cord blood (CB), were expanded with hematopoietic growth factors. They were then cultured for burst-forming units of erythrocytes (BFU-E), colony-forming units of granulocytes and monocytes (CFU-GM) and colony-forming units of megakaryocytes (CFU-Mk) at days 0, 4, 7, and 14 under the combination of growth factors, with cell counts. The cytokines included the recombinant human megakaryocyte growth and development (100 ng/ml), interleukin-3 (10 ng/ml), stem cell factor (100 ng/ml), flt-3 ligand (50 ng/ml) and interleukin-11 (200 ng/ml). The CB-selected CD34+ cells showed significantly higher total cell expansion than those from the BM at day 7 (3.0 fold increase than BM), day 14 (2.4 fold), and day 17 (2.6 fold). The colony count of the BFU-E/CFU-E per CD34+ cell at day 0 was 0.14 +/- 0.023 in the CB, which was significantly higher than 0.071 +/- 0.015 in the BM. The CB-selected CD34+ cells produced more BFU-E colonies than the BM on culture days 4, 7, and 14. The BFU-E colonies from the CB cells increased markedly on culture days 4 and 7, with a 4-fold increase at day 14. The colony count of the CFU-Mk per CD34+ cell at day 0 was 0.047 +/- 0.011 in the CB-selected CD34+ cells cultures, which was higher than the 0.026 +/- 0.014 in the BM. The CB-selected CD34+ cells produced more CFU-Mk colonies than the BM on culture days 4, 7 and 14. In conclusion, the ex vivo expansion of the CB cells may be very promising in producing total cellular expansion, CFU-Mk and BFU-E compared with BM, especially at day 7. The ex vivo expansion of the CB may have rationale in making an ex vivo culture for 7 to 14 d.     

Improved development of human embryonic stem cell-derived embryoid bodies by stirred vessel cultivation

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) represent an important resource for novel cell-based regenerative medical therapies. hESCs are known to differentiate into mature cells of defined lineages through the formation of embryoid bodies (EBs) which are amenable to suspension culture for several weeks. However, EBs derived from hESCs in standard static cultures are typically non-homogeneous, leading to inefficient cellular development. Here, we systematically compare the formation, growth, and differentiation capabilities of hESC-derived EBs in stirred and static suspension cultures. A 15-fold expansion in total number of EB-derived cells cultured for 21 days in a stirred flask was observed, compared to a fourfold expansion in static (non-stirred) cultures. Additionally, stirred vessel mediated cultures have a more homogeneous EB morphology and size. Importantly, the EBs cultivated in spinner flasks retained comparable ability to produce hematopoietic progenitor cells as those grown in static culture. These results demonstrate the decoupling between EB cultivation method and EB-derived cells' ability to form hematopoietic progenitors, and will allow for improved production of scalable quantities of hematopoietic cells or other differentiated cell lineages from hESCs in a controlled environment.     

Stirred culture of peripheral and cord blood hematopoietic cells offers advantages over traditional static systems for clinically relevant applications

The ability to culture hematopoietic cells in readily characterizable and scalable stirred systems, combined with the capability to utilize serum-free medium, will aid the development of clinically attractive bioreactor systems for transplantation therapies. We thus examined the proliferation and differentiation characteristics of peripheral blood (PB) mononuclear cells (MNC), cord blood (CB) MNC, and PB CD34(+) cells in spinner flasks and (control) T-flask cultures in both serum-containing and serum-free media. Hematopoietic cultures initiated from all sources examined (PB MNC, CB MNC, and PB CD34(+) cells) grew well in spinner vessels with either serum-containing or serum-free medium. Culture proliferation in spinner flasks was dependent on both agitator design and RPM as well as on the establishment of critical inoculum densities (ID) in both serum-containing (2 x 10(5) MNC/mL) and serum-free (3 x 10(5) MNC/mL) media. Spinner flask culture of PB MNC in serum-containing medium provided superior expansion of total cells and colony-forming cells (CFC) at high ID (1.2 x 10(6) cells/mL) as compared to T-flask controls. Serum-free spinner culture was comparable, if not superior, to that observed in serum-containing medium. This is the first report of stirred culture of PB or CB MNC, as well as the first report of stirred CD34(+) cell culture. Additionally, this is the first account of serum-free stirred culture of hematopoietic cells from any source.     

培养方式对真皮组织体外构建的影响

采用静态培养和转瓶培养方式分别构建真皮组织,考察培养方式和搅拌转速对细胞在三维支架材料中增殖、代谢、分布的影响。结果表明,由转瓶培养方式构建的细胞-材料复合物,其最终细胞密度和细胞比生长速率均明显高于静态培养（14.2~27.6×106 cells/cm3 vs 10.1×106 cells/cm3和0.145~0.262 d-1 vs 0.111 d-1）,而转速达80 r/min的转瓶尤其突出;静态培养的细胞-材料复合物内部细胞稀少,且分布不均匀,转瓶培养的细胞-材料复合物在材料表面和内部细胞密度都有所提高,分布情况也得到改善,且80 r/min转瓶培养的组织其细胞密度和分布均优于10 r/min和40 r/min转瓶培养。转瓶培养在其转速达到一定强度时能明显提高细胞在支架中的增殖速率,缩短培养时间,并有效改善细胞在支架内的分布,是一种理想的培养方式。     

脐血造血细胞的体外扩增：1.生长规律的研究

考察了在添加细胞因子和未添加细胞因子培养条件下的造血细胞群体的生长和代谢,研究了长期培养条件下造血祖细胞生长规律。在静态培养条件下,脐血造血细胞群体的比生长速率为0.34d^-1,倍增时间为2d。培养后期,造血细胞消耗了大部分葡萄糖,乳酸浓度可达40 mmol/L。在造血细胞长期培养条件下,CFU-GM产出最高峰在培养第2周与第3周之间。BFU-E产出最高峰在培养第1周。每天换50%培养液,造血细胞总数扩增了14倍,CFU-GM扩增了13倍,BFU-E扩增了5倍。     

Comparisons of microcarrier cell culture processes in one hundred mini-liter spinner flask and fifteen-liter bioreactor cultures

Microcarrier cell culture process can be used to culture anchorange-dependent cells in large bioreactor vessels. The process performance in large bioreactors is usually less prominent than that in spinner flask vessels and bench scale reactors. In this study we investigated the microcarrier cell culture processes in 100?ml spinner flask and 15-liter bioreactor cultures, including the kinetics for cell attachment, cell growth and the production of Japanese encephaltilis vaccine strain (Beijing-1) virus. Under a fixed concentration of microcarrier and cell density used in inoculations, the attachment kinetics of Vero cells on Cytodex 1 microcarrier in a 15-liter bioreactor vessel was 2 folds slower than with 100?ml spinner flask culture. Virus replication in 15-liter bioreactor culture also revealed an approximately one day lag-time compared to 100?ml spinner flask culture. Findings presented herein provide valuable information for designing and operating microcarrier cell culture processes in large bioreactor vessels.     

Scale-up of mouse embryonic stem cell expansion in stirred bioreactors

The aim of this study was to develop a robust, quality controlled and reproducible large-scale culture system using serum-free (SF) medium to obtain vast numbers of embryonic stem (ES) cells as a starting source for potential applications in tissue regeneration, as well as for drug screening studies. Mouse ES (mES) cells were firstly cultured on microcarriers in spinner flasks to investigate the effect of different parameters such as the agitation rate and the feeding regimen. Cells were successfully expanded at agitation rates up to 60 rpm using the SF medium and no significant differences in terms of growth kinetics or metabolic profiles were found between the two feeding regimens evaluated: 50% medium renewal every 24 h or 25% every 12 h. Overall, cells reached maximum concentrations of (4.2 ± 0.4) and (5.6 ± 0.8) ×10(6) cells/mL at Day 8 for cells fed once or twice per day; which corresponds to an increase in total cell number of 85 ± 7 and 108 ± 16, respectively. To have a more precise control over culture conditions and to yield a higher number of cells, the scale-up of the spinner flask culture system was successfully accomplished by using a fully controlled stirred tank bioreactor. In this case, the concentration of mES cells cultured on microcarriers increased 85 ± 15-fold over 11 days. Importantly, mES cells expanded under stirred conditions, in both spinner flask and fully controlled stirred tank bioreactor, using SF medium, retained the expression of pluripotency markers such as Oct-4, Nanog, and SSEA-1 and their differentiation potential into cells of the three embryonic germ layers.     

Culture of human T cells in stirred bioreactors for cellular immunotherapy applications: shear, proliferation, and the IL-2 receptor

Ex vivo expansion of T cells is a key step of many cellular immunotherapy protocols, which require large numbers of immune cells to eradicate malignant or virally infected cells. The use of stirred culture systems for T cell expansion offers many potential advantages over the static culture systems commonly used today, including homogeneity of culture conditions, ease of sampling, and implementation of control systems. Primary human T cells as well as the transformed TALL103/2 T cell line were cultured in 100-mL spinner flasks as well as 2-L bioreactors to investigate the effects of shear forces produced by agitation and sparging-based aeration on the expansion of T cells. Primary T cells could be successfully grown at agitation rates of up to 120 rpm in the spinner flasks and to 180 rpm in the bioreactors with no immediate detrimental effects on proliferation. Exposure to agitation and sparging did, however, cause a significantly increased rate of downregulation of the interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R), resulting in lower overall expansion potential from a single stimulation as compared to static controls, with faster IL-2R downregulation occurring at higher agitation rates. For the primary T cells, no significant effects of agitation were found on expression levels of other key surface receptors (CD3, CD28, or CD62L) examined. No significant effects of agitation were observed on primary T cell metabolism or levels of cellular apoptosis in the cultures. The TALL103/2 T cell line was found to be extremely sensitive to agitation, showing severely reduced growth at speeds above 30 rpm in 100-mL spinner flasks. This unexpected increased fragility in the transformed T cell line as compared to primary T cells points out the importance of carefully selecting a model cell line which will accurately represent the characteristics of the cell system of interest.     

Development of a fixed bed bioreactor for the expansion of human hematopoietic progenitor cells

The ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic progenitor cells is of great interest for a variety of clinical applications, e.g. bone marrow transplantation or gene therapy. Therefore it is of general interest to develop a culture system, able to mimic the in vivo hematopoesis, which is a prerequisite for long-term hematopoietic culture. Our approach was to modify a continuously perfused bioreactor for cultivation and expansion of human hematopoietic stem cells. Therefore we immobilized stromal cells (human primary stromal cells or the murine cell line M2-10B4) in porous glass carriers in a fixed bed reactor and cocultivated human hematopoietic progenitor cells for several weeks. After inoculation of mononuclear cells derived from umbilical cord blood or peripheral blood stem cells both adherent and non adherent cells were harvested and analyzed by flow cytometry and short-term colony assays. During cultivation there was a permanent production of progenitor cells and mature blood cells derived from the immobilized cells in the carriers. We could demonstrate the immobilization of hematopoietic progenitor cells of the myeloid system detectable in short-term colony assays. Additionally we could observe the expansion of very early progenitor cells (CFU-GEMM) up to 4.2-fold and later progenitor cells (CFU-GM and BFU-E) up to 7-fold and 1.8-fold, respectively. P.M. and B.S. contributed equal parts to this work. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Approach toward an efficient inoculum preparation stage for suspension BHK-21 cell culture

Mammalian cells are the most frequently used hosts for biopharmaceutical proteins manufacturing. Inoculum quality is a key element for establishing an efficient bioconversion process. The main objective in inoculation expansion process is to generate large volume of viable cells in the shortest time. The aim of this paper was to optimize the inoculum preparation stage of baby hamster kidney (BHK)-21 cells for suspension cultures in benchtop bioreactors, by means of a combination of static and agitated culture systems. Critical parameters for static (liquid column height: 5, 10, 15 mm) and agitated (working volume: 35, 50, 65 mL, inoculum volume percentage: 10, 30 % and agitation speed: 25, 60 rpm) cultures were study in T-flask and spinner flask, respectively. The optimal liquid column height was 5 mm for static culture. The maximum viable cell concentration in spinner flask cultures was reached with 50 mL working volume and the inoculum volume percentage was not significant in the range under study (10–30 %) at 25 rpm agitation. Agitation speed at 60 rpm did not change the main kinetic parameters with respect to those observed for 25 rpm. These results allowed for a schedule to produce more than 4 × 10⁹ BHK-21 cells from 4 × 10⁶ cells in 13 day with 1,051 mL culture medium.