A common problem observed in large-scale cell cultivation is reduced culture performance compared with small-scale processes due to the existence of concentration gradients caused by poor mixing. Small-scale simulations using microbial cell suspensions have shown that circulation of cells through concentration gradients of oxygen, pH and glucose can result in reduction of cell growth and product formation similar to the effects observed in large-scale bioreactors. This study was aimed at using scale-down studies to investigate poor mixing in large-scale bioreactors used for suspended plant and animal cell culture. Two plant cell suspensions and a hybridoma cell line were used in this work. The range of oxygen transfer coefficients achieved in the hybridoma and plant suspensions were about 50???20 h-1 and 12???6 h-1, respectively. One-vessel simulation was developed to induce fluctuations of dissolved oxygen tension in a 2-L bioreactor using intermittent sparging of air and nitrogen. The effect of dissolved oxygen fluctuations on the cells was examined by comparing the performance of the cultures with those operated at constant dissolved oxygen tension. In the hybridoma suspension culture, only slight effects on cell growth were observed at circulation times above 300 s. No effect on the specific glucose uptake rate or antibody production was observed at the circulation times tested. Analysis of gene expression for selected hypoxia-related genes also suggested that the overall effect was limited. In plant cell suspensions, the specific growth rates and biomass yields on total sugar in the cultures under fluctuating dissolved oxygen tension were essentially the same as those at constant dissolved oxygen tension for both transgenic Nicotiana tabacum and Thalictrum minus. Under fluctuating dissolved oxygen tension, no effect on antibody accumulation was observed in transgenic N. tabacum suspensions, but a decrease in berberine accumulation was observed in T. minus. From the results, it can be concluded that only minimal effects due to the development of concentration gradients would be expected in large-scale bioreactors used for the cultivation of the hybridoma and plant cell suspensions tested in this work.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/279652 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Cheung, Caleb Kin Lok, Biotechnology & Biomolecular Sciences, Faculty of Science, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Caleb Kin Lok Cheung, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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