Effective production of anti-tetanus toxoid and anti-HBsAg human monoclonal antibodies by serum-free culture of hybridomas

Two hybridoma systems, mouse·human-human (m·h-h) heterohybridoma and human-human (h-h) hybridoma, have been established, and hybridomas secreting anti-tetanus toxoid and anti-HBsAg human monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs), both having a neutralizing activity have been obtained. Cell-line improvement was shown to be an efficient method for improving the productivity in a cell culture process. Two kinds of serum-free media, GFS (a serum substitute)-containing media and polyethylene glycol (PEG)-containing media, have been established to produce human MoAbs. m·h-h Heterohybridomas could be cultivated for a long period by perfusion culture in an agitation vessel, but h-h hybridomas could not. We found that h-h hybridomas show growth-associated antibody production kinetics and established two kinds of long-term cultivation systems: continuous perfusion culture and semicontinuous immobilized perfusion culture. We also scaled up batch culture and short-term perfusion culture to 200-L and 50-L fermentors, respectively. Processes for large-scale purification from the culture supernatants of both GFS- and PEG-containing serum-free media have also been developed.     

A perfusion culture system using a stirred ceramic membrane reactor for hyperproduction of IgG2a monoclonal antibody by hybridoma cells

A novel perfusion culture system for efficient production of IgG2a monoclonal antibody (mAb) by hybridoma cells was developed. A ceramic membrane module was constructed and used as a cell retention device installed in a conventional stirred-tank reactor during the perfusion culture. Furthermore, the significance of the control strategy of perfusion rate (volume of fresh medium/working volume of reactor/day, vvd) was investigated. With the highest increasing rate (deltaD, vvd per day, vvdd) of perfusion rate, the maximal viable cell density of 3.5 x 10(7) cells/mL was obtained within 6 days without any limitation and the cell viability was maintained above 95%. At lower deltaD's, the cell growth became limited. Under nutrient-limited condition, the specific cell growth rate (mu) was regulated by deltaD. During the nonlimited growth phase, the specific mAb production rate (qmAb) remained constant at 0.26 +/- 0.02 pg/cell x h in all runs. During the cell growth-limited phase, qmAb was regulated by deltaD within the range of 0.25-0.65 vvdd. Under optimal conditions, qmAb of 0.80 and 2.15 pg/cell x h was obtained during the growth-limited phase and stationary phase, respectively. The overall productivity and yield were 690 mg/L x day and 340 mg/L x medium, respectively. This study demonstrated that this novel perfusion culture system for suspension mammalian cells can support high cell density and efficient mAb production and that deltaD is an important control parameter to regulate and achieve high mAb production.     

A perfusion–cell bleeding culture strategy for enhancing the productivity of eicosapentaenoic acid by Nitzschia laevis

A perfusion-cell bleeding culture strategy was developed for enhancing the productivity of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) by the diatom Nitzschia laevis. As the strategy combined the concepts of continuous culture and perfusion culture, it allowed continuously and simultaneously harvesting the algal cells and removing inhibitory compounds during the cultivation. Compared with a single operation of continuous culture, the perfusion-cell bleeding culture greatly enhanced the steady-state biomass concentration, biomass productivity, EPA yield, EPA productivity and glucose utilization efficiency. The perfusion-cell bleeding culture also allowed higher biomass productivity and EPA productivity than the single perfusion culture did. At a bleeding rate of 0.67 day(-1) and a perfusion rate of 0.6 day(-1), the EPA productivity achieved 175 mg l(-1) day(-1), which is the highest ever reported in microalgal cultures.     

Perfusion culture of hybridoma cells for hyperproduction of IgG(2a) monoclonal antibody in a wave bioreactor-perfusion culture system

A novel wave bioreactor-perfusion culture system was developed for highly efficient production of monoclonal antibody IgG2a (mAb) by hybridoma cells. The system consists of a wave bioreactor, a floating membrane cell-retention filter, and a weight-based perfusion controller. A polyethylene membrane filter with a pore size of 7 microm was floating on the surface of the culture broth for cell retention, eliminating the need for traditional pump around flow loops and external cell separators. A weight-based perfusion controller was designed to balance the medium renewal rate and the harvest rate during perfusion culture. BD Cell mAb Medium (BD Biosciences, CA) was identified to be the optimal basal medium for mAb production during batch culture. A control strategy for perfusion rate (volume of fresh medium/working volume of reactor/day, vvd) was identified as a key factor affecting cell growth and mAb accumulation during perfusion culture, and the optimal control strategy was increasing perfusion rate by 0.15 vvd per day. Average specific mAb production rate was linearly corrected with increasing perfusion rate within the range of investigation. The maximum viable cell density reached 22.3 x 105 and 200.5 x 105 cells/mL in the batch and perfusion culture, respectively, while the corresponding maximum mAb concentration reached 182.4 and 463.6 mg/L and the corresponding maximum total mAb amount was 182.4 and 1406.5 mg, respectively. Not only the yield of viable cell per liter of medium (32.9 x 105 cells/mL per liter medium) and the mAb yield per liter of medium (230.6 mg/L medium) but also the mAb volumetric productivity (33.1 mg/L.day) in perfusion culture were much higher than those (i.e., 22.3 x 105 cells/mL per liter medium, 182.4 mg/L medium, and 20.3 mg/L.day) in batch culture. Relatively fast cell growth and the perfusion culture approach warrant that high biomass and mAb productivity may be obtained in such a novel perfusion culture system (1 L working volume), which offers an alternative approach for producing gram quantity of proteins from industrial cell lines in a liter-size cell culture. The fundamental information obtained in this study may be useful for perfusion culture of hybridoma cells on a large scale.     

Step-up/step-down perfusion approach for increased mAb 520C9 production by a hybridoma cell line

The hybridoma cell line, HB-8696, produces a monoclonal antibody, 520C9 (mouse IgG₁) that recognizes the breast cancer oncoprotein, c-erbB2. The effect of perfusion rate (volume of fresh feed/working volume of reactor/day) on cell growth and mAb production was investigated but perfusion at a constant rate and at an arbitrarily increased rate could not maintain exponential cell growth or a higher specific mAb production rate. An optimum step-up/step-down perfusion strategy is therefore proposed for maintaining a steady state production phase at high cell density for ten days. The optimum step-up perfusion could achieve fast cell growth by avoiding any nutrient limited condition and the following optimum step-down perfusion could potentially maintain high live cell density and reduced product dilution as well. The maximum viable cell achieved under optimum perfusion strategy was 2.3 × 10⁷ cells/ml which was 19-fold higher than in optimum batch culture. The mAb yield and volumetric productivity were significantly improved to 52 and 50 mg/l day compared to 25 and 3.8 mg/l day in optimum batch, respectively, and could be maintained for up to ten days.     

Two-stage depth filter perfusion culture for recombinant antibody production by recombinant Chinese hamster ovary cell

A rCHO cell line of DUKX origin 26*-320, producing recombinant antibody against the human platelet, was cultivated in a two-stage depth filter perfusion system (DFPS) for 20 days in order to attain high recombinant antibody concentration. The productivity of the first stage DFPS bioreactor reached 53 times that of the batch culture in a controlled stirred tank reactor and was showed 12.1 mg/L antibody concentration at a perfusion rate of 6.0 d⁻¹. Glucose concentration in the first DFPS was maintained at 1.5 g/L to avoid cell damage in the perfusion culture. A second stage DFPS system was attached to the first DFPS, which resulted in a low glucose concentration of 0.02 g/L and a high antibody concentration of 23.9 mg/L. The two-stage depth filter perfusion culture yielded 60% higher product concentration than the batch and 49-fold higher productivity of 69.3 mg/L/d in comparison with that (1.4 mg/L/d) in a batch system. Furthermore, antibody concentration of the second stage was 97% higher than that of the first stage, and the antibody productivities were comparable to that of the first stage. This two-stage DFPS system also showed potential for higher titer production of recombinant antibody and high volumetric productivity for long-term culture of bio-pharmaceutical substances.     

Azadirachtin production by hairy root cultivation of Azadirachta indica in a modified stirred tank reactor

Present investigation involves hairy root cultivation of Azadirachta indica in a modified stirred tank reactor under optimized culture conditions for maximum volumetric productivity of azadirachtin. The selected hairy root line (Az-35) was induced via Agrobacterium rhizogenes LBA 920-mediated transformation of A. indica leaf explants (Coimbatore variety, India). Liquid culture of the hairy roots was developed in a modified Murashige and Skoog medium (MM2). To further enhance the productivity of azadirachtin, selected growth regulators (1.0?mg/l IAA and 0.025?mg/l GA₃), permeabilizing agent (0.5?% v/v DNBP), a biotic elicitor (1?% v/v Curvularia (culture filtrate)) and an indirectly linked biosynthetic precursor (50?mg/l cholesterol) were added in the growth medium on 15th day of the hairy root cultivation period in shake flask. Highest azadirachtin production (113?mg/l) was obtained on 25th day of the growth cycle with a biomass of 21?g/l DW. Further, batch cultivation of hairy roots was carried out in a novel liquid-phase bioreactor configuration (modified stirred tank reactor with polyurethane foam as root support) to investigate the possible scale-up of the established A. indica hairy root culture. A biomass production of 15.2?g/l with azadirachtin accumulation in the hairy roots of 6.4?mg/g (97.28?mg/l) could be achieved after 25?days of the batch cultivation period, which was ~27 and ~14?% less biomass and azadirachtin concentration obtained respectively, in shake flasks. An overall volumetric productivity of 3.89?mg/(l?day) of azadirachtin was obtained in the bioreactor.     

Production of monoclonal antibodies against human chorionic gonadotropin by hybridoma cultures in calcium alginate capsules

A new method of making microcapsules with calcium alginate gel was developed and the cultivation of the encapsulated hybridoma cells producing monoclonal antibodies against human chorionic gonadotropin was investigated. A high cell density of 2.0×10⁸ cells/cm³ in the capsules led to a high dilution rate of 0.68 per hour and resulted in the high volumetric monoclonal antibody productivity of 652.8 mg/l/day, which was 20–30 times higher than those of traditional continuous suspension cultures. However, long-term continuous culture was not achieved with this capsule system probably because of the limitation in nutrient supply and the accumulation of waste products. Also the analysis of oxygen transfer in this system showed that oxygen supply was not enough to support such a high cell density.     

Enhancement of antibody production by growth factor addition in perfusion and hollow-fiber culture systems

The effects of the high-molecular-weight growth factors, transferrin and bovine serum albumin (BSA), on antibody production were analyzed quantitatively in continuous hollow-fiber cultivation over a period of 60 days. Transferrin enhanced cell growth but had no significant effect on the specific antibody production rate, whereas BSA significantly enhanced antibody production. The antibody production rate was increased 4- and 14-fold respectively by feeding BSA at 2 and 5 g L(-1) into the EC side of the system (the side connected to the cell-containing outer part of the hollow-fiber unit) compared with the production achieved without BSA. Addition of 5 g L(1) BSA into the IC side of the system (the side connected to the inner part of the hollow-fiber unit) resulted in a 2.5-fold increase in the antibody production rate. The effect of BSA was also analyzed using the perfusion culture system with a separation unit. When fresh medium containing either 2 or 5 g L(-1) BSA was fed into the reactor, both the specific growth rate and specific death rate increased, while the specific antibody production rate was increased 2- and 25-fold, respectively, by feeding BSA at these two concentrations compared with no addition. Comparing the two systems, the increase in the antibody production rate achieved with the hollow-fiber system was threefold greater than that in the perfusion culture system with the same concentration of BSA feeding. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

High density culture of hybridoma cells in a dual hollow fiber bioreactor

Summary Hybridoma cells were cultured for two months in the dual hollow fiber bioreactor (DHFBR) which had been successfully used for high cell density cultures of various microbial cells. In batch suspension culture the concentration of monoclonal antibody (Mab) against human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) and the cell density of Alps 25-3 hybridoma cells were obtained in 30 μg/mL and 2.35×10⁶ cells/mL, respectively. The continuous culture with DHFBR produced Mab of 100–130 μg/mL for 30 days and the estimated cell density in the extracapillary space of DHFBR was 1.87×10⁸ cells/mL based on the antibody production rate. The productivity of Mab was 205 mg/day per litre of the total reactor volume while that of the batch suspension culture was only 10 mg/L day.     

Scale-up and optimization of culture conditions of a human heterohybridoma producing serotype-specific antibodies to Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Summary Three different stirred bioreactors of 0.5 to 12 l volume were used to scale up the production of a human monoclonal antibody. Inoculation density and stirrer speed were evaluated in batch cultures, whereas dilution rate and pH were optimized in chemostat cultures with respect to high specific antibody production rate and high antibody yield per time and reactor volume. The cell line used for the experiments was a heterohybridoma, producing immunoglobulin M (IgM) against lipopolysaccharide of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Cells were cultured in spinner flasks of 500 ml liquid volume for adaptation to stirred culture conditions. Subsequently cells were transferred to the 1.5-1 KLF 2000 bioreactor and to the 12-1 NLF 22 bioreactor for pilot-scale cultures. Chemostat experiments were done in the 1.5-1 KLF bioreactor. Cell density, viability, glucose and lactate and antibody concentration were measured during culture experiments. In batch cultures in all three stirred bioreactors, comparable maximal cell densities and specific growth rates were achieved. Chemostat experiments showed that at a pH of 6.9 and a dilution rate of 0.57 per day the specific antibody production rate was threefold higher than similar experiments done at pH 7.2 with a dilution rate of 0.36 per day. By optimizing pH and dilution rate in chemostat cultures the daily yield of human IgM increased nearly threefold from 6 to 16 mg/day and per litre of reactor volume. The yield per litre of medium increased twofold. Correspondence to: U. Schürch     

Monoclonal antibody production in dialyzed continuous suspension culture

Hybridoma cell growth and monoclonal antibody production in dialyzed continuous suspension culture were investigated using a 1.5-L Celligen bioreactor. Medium supplemented with 1.5% fetal bovine serum was fed directly into the reactor at a dilution rate of 0.45 d(-1). Dailysis tubing with a molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 1000 was coiled inside the bioreactor. Fresh medium containing no serum or serum substitues passed through the dialysis tubing at flow rates of 2 to 5 L/d. The objective was to remove low molecular weight inhibitors, such as lactic acid and ammonia, by diffusion through the tubing, while continuoulsy replenishing essential nutrients by the same mechanism. Due to the low MWCO of the dialysis tubing high molecular weight components such as growth factors and antibody were not removed by the dialyzing stream. In the batch start-up phase, the monoclonal antibody (MAb) titer was almost 3 times that achieved in typical batch cultures (i.e., 170 to 180 mg/L). During dialyzed continuous operation, a substantial increase (up to 40%) in cell density, monoclonal antibody (MAb) titer, and reactor MAb productivity was observed, as compared with a conventional continuous suspension culture. The cell viability and the specific MAb productivity remained practically constant at different dialysis rates. This finding suggests that the steady state growth and death rate in continuous suspension hybridoma cultures are not direct functions of the nutrient or inhibitor concentrations.     

High Yield of Human Monoclonal Antibody Produced by Stably Transfected Drosophila Schneider 2 Cells in Perfusion Culture Using Wave Bioreactor

Since it was first introduced in late 1990s Wave bioreactor has been used for protein production by mammalian and insect cell lines. However, using Wave bioreactor to produce human monoclonal antibody by stable Drosophila Schneider 2 (S2) cell transfectants has not been reported before. In this study, S2 cells were co-transfected with an inducible vector expressing human monoclonal antibody heavy and light chains, respectively, specific for hemagglutinin (HA) of H5N1 influenza virus. Stable S2 transfectant clone was selected by limiting dilution assay. Stable S2 transfectant clone that produce the highest amount of human monoclonal antibody was inoculated into two 2-l disposable cellbags, where cell growth and antibody production were compared between batch and perfusion cultures using Wave bioreactor. Here, we report that maximum viable cell density reached 1.06?×?10(7) cells/ml in batch culture; whereas 1.04?×?10(8)?cells/ml was achieved in perfusion culture. The maximum volumetric antibody productivity in batch culture was 52?mg/l/day; while perfusion culture yielded 1,437?mg/l/day. As a result, the total antibody production was 201?mg in batch culture and 8,212?mg in perfusion culture. The antibody produced by both cultures displays full neutralizing activity. Thus, our results provide strong support for using Wave bioreactor in perfusion culture for a large-scale production of human monoclonal antibody by stable S2 cell transfectants.     

Design and performance of a trickle-bed bioreactor with immobilized hybridoma cells

A trickle-bed system employing inert matrices of vermiculite or polyurethane foam packed in the downcomer section of a split-flow air-lift reactor has been developed for hybridoma culture to enhance antibody productivity. This quiescent condition favoured occlusion and allowed the cells to achieve densities twelve fold greater (12.8×10⁶ cells/ml reactor for polyurethane foam) than in free cell suspension. The reactor was operated in a cyclic batch mode whereby defined volumes of medium were periodically withdrawn and replaced with equal volumes of fresh medium. The pH of the medium was used as the indicator of the feeding schedule. Glucose, lactate and ammonia concentrations reached a stationary value after 5 days. With vermiculite packing, a monoclonal antibody (MAb) concentration of 2.4 mg/l was achieved after 12 days. The MAb concentration declined then increased to a value of 1.8 mg/l. In the polyurethane foam average monoclonal antibody (MAb) concentrations reached a stationary value of 1.1 mg/l in the first 20 days and increased to a new stationary state value of 2.1 mg/l for the remainder of the production. MAb productivity in the trickle-bed reactor was 0.3 mg/l·d (polyurethane foam) and 0.18 mg/l.d (vermiculite) in comparison to 0.12 mg/l·d for free cell suspension. This trickle-bed system seems to be an attractive way of increasing MAb productivity in culture.     

High‐yield secretion of recombinant proteins expressed in tobacco cell culture with a designer glycopeptide tag: Process development

Low‐yield protein production remains the most significant economic hurdle with plant cell culture technology. Fusions of recombinant proteins with hydroxyproline‐O‐glycosylated designer glycopeptide tags have consistently boosted secreted protein yields. This prompted us to study the process development of this technology aiming to achieve productivity levels necessary for commercial viability. We used a tobacco BY‐2 cell culture expressing EGFP as fusion with a glycopeptide tag comprised of 32 repeat of ”Ser‐Pro“ dipeptide, or (SP)₃₂, to study cell growth and protein secretion, culture scale‐up, and establishment of perfusion cultures for continuous production. The BY‐2 cells accumulated low levels of cell biomass (～7.5 g DW/L) in Schenk & Hildebrandt medium, but secreted high yields of (SP)₃₂‐tagged EGFP (125 mg/L). Protein productivity of the cell culture has been stable for 6.0 years. The BY‐2 cells cultured in a 5‐L bioreactor similarly produced high secreted protein yield at 131 mg/L. Successful operation of a cell perfusion culture for 30 days was achieved under the perfusion rate of 0.25 and 0.5 day^?1, generating a protein volumetric productivity of 17.6 and 28.9 mg/day/L, respectively. This research demonstrates the great potential of the designer glycopeptide technology for use in commercial production of valuable proteins with plant cell cultures.     

Effect of mixed organic substrate on α-tocopherol production by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Euglena gracilis</Emphasis> in photoheterotrophic culture

Effects of organic carbon sources on cell growth and alpha-tocopherol productivity in wild and chloroplast-deficient W14ZUL strains of Euglena gracilis under photoheterotrophic culture were investigated. In both strains, the increase in cell growth was particularly high when glucose was added as the sole organic carbon source. On the other hand, alpha-tocopherol production per dry cell weight was enhanced by adding ethanol. Ethanol addition also increased the chlorophyll concentration in wild strain and mitochondria activity in W14ZUL strain. For effective alpha-tocopherol production, the effects of mixture of glucose and ethanol were investigated. The results showed that, when a mixture of glucose (6 g/l) and ethanol (4 g/l) was used, alpha-tocopherol productivity per culture broth was 3.89 x 10(-2) mg l(-1) h(-1), which was higher than the value obtained without addition of organic carbon source (0.92 x 10(-2) mg l(-1) h(-1)). In addition, under fed-batch cultivation using an internally illuminated photobioreactor, the alpha-tocopherol production per culture broth was 23.43 mg/l, giving a productivity of 16.27 x 10(-2) mg l(-1) h(-1).     

Continuous alpha-amylase production using Bacillus amyloliquefaciens adsorbed on an ion exchange resin

Summary A method for the continuous production of extracellular alpha amylase by surface immobilized cells of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens NRC 2147 has been developed. A large-pore, macroreticular anionic exchange resin was capable of initially immobilizing an effective cell concentration of 17.5 g DW/1 (based on a total reactor volume of 160 ml). The reactor was operated continuously with a nutrient medium containing 15 g/l soluble starch, as well as yeast extract and salts. Aeration was achieved by sparging oxygen enriched air into the column inlet. Fermentor plugging by cells was avoided by periodically substituting the nutrient medium with medium lacking in both soluble starch and yeast extract. This fermentor was operated for over 200 h and obtained a steady state enzyme concentration of 18700 amylase activity units per litre (18.7 kU/l), and an enzyme volumetric productivity of 9700 amylase activity units per litre per hour (9.7 kU/l-h). Parallel fermentations were performed using a 2 l stirred vessel fermentor capable of operation in batch and continuous mode. All fermentation conditions employed were identical to those of the immobilized cell experiments in order to assess the performance of the immobilized cell reactor. Batch stirred tank operation yielded a maximum amylase activity of 150 kU/l and a volumetric productivity of 2.45 kU/l-h. The maximum cell concentration obtained was 5.85 g DW/l. Continuous stirred tank fermentation obtained a maximum effluent amylase activity of 6.9 kU/l and a maximum enzyme volumetric productivity of 2.73 kU/l-h. Both of these maximum values were observed at a dilution rate of 0.345 l/h. The immobilized cell reactor was observed to achieve larger volumetric productivities than either mode of stirred tank fermentation, but achieved an enzyme activity concentration lower than that of the batch stirred tank fermentor.     

Evaluation of anchorage-dependent cell propagation systems for production of human acetylcholinesterase by recombinant 293 cells

Production of recombinant human acetylcholinesterase (AChE) by a high producer human embryonic kidney cell line (293) was evaluated by three main cell propagation systems; surface propagator, fixed-bed reactor and stirred microcarrier cultures. The recombinant cell line expresses AChE levels as high as 10–20 mg/l/day. System productivities in either the surface propagator (multitray system), or in the fixed-bed reactor (polyurethane macroporous sponges) were 4–8 mg AChE/l/day during a production period of 8 days. Similar productive rates, yet longer production periods (up to 22 days), were obtained in microcarrier (MC) cultures using either polystyrene beads (Biosilon); collagen-coated dextran beads (Cytodex-3); or gelatin macroporous beads (Cultispher-G). Best results were obtained in an aggregate cculture using cellulose beads charged with diethylaminoethyl (DEAE) groups, (Servacel), as carriers. In this culture, a system productivity of 6–10 mg/l/day was maintained for 28 days.     

连续灌流培养杂交瘤细胞生产单克隆抗体

自 2 0世纪 70年代以来 ,工程抗体在基础医学研究、临床诊断和治疗 ,以及免疫预防等领域中的广泛应用 ,大大促进了其产业化的进程。目前工业化生产单克隆抗体的主要方法是通过发酵罐、中空纤维和固定床等生物反应器培养系统 ,以微载体、微包囊法在体外大规模高密度培养杂交瘤细胞 ,再通过相关的纯化手段浓缩纯化制备抗体[1 ,2 ] 。就操作方式而言 ,一般采用两个基本策略 :①大容量高密度的悬浮培养 ,最多采用的是搅拌式气升式生物反应器 ,通过微载体依托细胞相对固定化 ,降低了搅拌培养时对细胞的剪切力 ,提高细胞的密度和稳定性及生产率。…     

Perfusion strategy for rosmarinic acid production by Anchusa officinalis

The production of an intracellular secondary metabolite rosmarinic acid (RA) by plant cell suspensions of Anchusa officinalis cultivated with intermittent medium exchange is investigated. Initially, a two-stage perfusion culture method was employed. After being cultured in the batch mode for ca. 6 days in B5 medium plus 3% sucrose, 1 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), and 0.1 mg/L kinetin (2,4-D B5 medium), Anchusa culture was cultivated to high cell density by perfusion during the growth stage using a hormone-free Gamborg B5 medium supplemented with 6% sucrose. This was followed by a production stage, in which a complete medium exchange into B5 medium plus 3% sucrose and 0.25 mg/L naphthleneacetic acid (NAA) was conducted. The two-stage perfusion culture had a higher maximum culture RA concentration but a lower RA content per cell than the batch stock culture maintained in the 2,4-D B5 medium. Higher culture RA concentration was due primarily to high cell density. The high packed cell volume, however, seemed to reduce the synergistic effect of NAA on RA synthesis. Subsequently, a single-stage perfusion culture method was investigated. The best result was obtained by growing the culture in the batch mode for ca. 10 days using B5 medium supplemented with 3% sucrose and 0.25 mg/L NAA, followed by perfusing the culture with B5 medium plus 6% sucrose and 0.25 mg/L NAA at a constant perfusion rate of 0.1/day. A maximum cell dry weight of 35 g/L and a RA concentration of almost 4 g/L were achieved. This is the highest RA concentration ever reported in the Anchusa culture. (c) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.