A flow-through tissue culture system with fast dynamic response

A flow-through system in which monolayer cells, growing on a 50-cm² glass surface, are in contact with a film of medium with a thickness of 0.14 mm, is described. For murine B16 melanoma cells, the loading capacity is 8.10⁶ cells. The flow-through principle permits frequent off-line or on-line detection of medium constituents for a period on the order of days. The system has a fast dynamic response. With off-line radiochemical detection, the system was applied to the uptake of uridine and excretion of uracil over a period of 45 h. With on-line fluorescence detection, the interaction between the cells and two anthracycline analogs was monitored. The cells can be easily observed with a light microscope.