Cell culture
Encyclopedia
Cell culture is the complex process by which cells
are grown under controlled conditions. In practice, the term "cell culture" has come to refer to the culturing of cells derived from singlecellular eukaryote
s, especially animal
cells. However, there are also cultures of plants
, fungi and microbes
, including viruses
, bacteria
and protist
s. The historical development and methods of cell culture are closely interrelated to those of tissue culture
and organ culture
.
Animal cell culture began when scientists removed a small amount of monkey kidney from a host organism and maintained it in a warm saline solution for several days, establishing the principle of tissue culture.
culture in several ways. Cells can be easily purified from blood; however, only the white cells
are capable of growth in culture. Mononuclear cells can be released from soft tissues by enzymatic digestion with enzyme
s such as collagenase
, trypsin
, or pronase
, which break down the extracellular matrix
. Alternatively, pieces of tissue can be placed in growth media
, and the cells that grow out are available for culture. This method is known as explant culture
.
Cells that are cultured directly from a subject are known as primary cells. With the exception of some derived from tumors, most primary cell cultures have limited lifespan. After a certain number of population doublings (called the Hayflick limit
), cells undergo the process of senescence
and stop dividing, while generally retaining viability.
An established or immortalized cell line
has acquired the ability to proliferate indefinitely either through random mutation or deliberate modification, such as artificial expression
of the telomerase
gene
.
Numerous cell lines are well established as representative of particular cell types.
and gas mixture (typically, 37°C, 5% CO2
for mammalian cells) in a cell incubator. Culture conditions vary widely for each cell type, and variation of conditions for a particular cell type can result in different phenotype
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
, glucose concentration, growth factors, and the presence of other nutrients. The growth factors used to supplement media are often derived from animal blood
, such as calf serum
. One complication of these blood-derived ingredients is the potential for contamination of the culture with viruses or prion
s, particularly in medical biotechnology
applications. Current practice is to minimize or eliminate the use of these ingredients wherever possible and use chemically defined media
, but this cannot always be accomplished. Alternative strategies involve sourcing the animal blood from countries with minimum BSE
/TSE
risk, such as Australia and New Zealand, and using purified nutrient concentrates derived from serum in place of whole animal serum for cell culture.
Plating density (number of cells per volume of culture medium) plays a critical role for some cell types. For example, a lower plating density makes granulosa cell
s exhibit estrogen production, while a higher plating density makes them appear as progesterone
-producing theca lutein cells.
Cells can be grown either 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 they can be grown to a higher density than adherent conditions would allow. Adherent cells require a surface, such as tissue culture plastic or microcarrier
, 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 (3-D) 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).
(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. Many methods are used to identify cell lines, including isoenzyme analysis, human lymphocyte antigen (HLA) typing, chromosomal analysis, karyotyping, morphology and STR analysis
.
One significant cell-line cross contaminant is the immortal HeLa
cell line.
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
to exclude contaminating micro-organisms. Antibiotics (e.g. penicillin
and streptomycin
) and antifungals (e.g.amphotericin B
) can also be added to the growth media.
As cells undergo metabolic processes, acid is produced and the pH decreases. Often, a pH indicator
is added to the medium to measure nutrient depletion.
-EDTA
; 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.
. This is often performed to cause cells to express a protein
of interest. More recently, the transfection of RNAi
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
es, in methods referred to as transduction
, infection
or transformation
. Viruses, as parasitic agents, are well suited to introducing DNA into cells, as this is a part of their normal course of reproduction.
s have been somewhat controversial in bioethics
, 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
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.
. This method is used to produce monoclonal antibodies. In brief, lymphocytes isolated from the spleen
(or possibly blood) of an immunised
animal are combined with an immortal myeloma cell line (B cell lineage) to produce a hybridoma
which has the antibody specificity of the primary lymphoctye and the immortality of the myeloma. 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.
Biological products produced by recombinant DNA
(rDNA) technology in animal cell cultures include enzymes, synthetic hormones, immunobiologicals (monoclonal antibodies
, 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
. The cost of growing mammalian cell cultures is high, so research is underway to produce such complex proteins in insect
cells or in higher plants, use of single embryonic cell and somatic
embryos as a source for direct gene transfer via particle bombardment, transit gene expression
and confocal microscopy
observation is one of its applications. It also offers to confirm single cell origin of somatic embryos and the asymmetry of the first cell division, which starts the process.
, stem cells and molecular biology
primarily involves cultures of cells on flat plastic dishes. This technique is known as two-dimensional (2D) cell culture, and was first developed by Wilhelm Roux
who, in 1885, removed a portion of the medullary plate of an embryonic chicken and maintained it in warm saline for several days on a flat glass plate. With the advance of polymer
technology, today's standard plastic dish for 2D cell culture, commonly known as the Petri dish
, was invented by Julius Richard Petri
, a German bacteriologist, who is generally credited with inventing the Petri dish while working as assistant to Robert Koch
.
and tissue engineering
, as it establishes the basics of growing and maintaining cells ex vivo.
The major application of human cell culture is in stem cell industry, where mesenchymal stem cell
s can be cultured and cryopreserved for future use.
s for polio, measles
, mumps
, rubella
, and chickenpox
are currently made in cell cultures. Due to the H5N1
pandemic
threat, research into using cell culture for influenza vaccines is being funded by the United States
government. Novel ideas in the field include recombinant DNA
-based vaccines, such as one made using human adenovirus
(a common cold virus) as a vector,
and novel adjuvants.
on a solid medium. The culturing of undifferentiated plant cells and calli requires the proper balance of the plant growth hormones auxin
and cytokinin
.
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
viruses, recombinant
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
.
cell lines
Primate
cell lines
Rat
tumor cell lines
Mouse
cell lines
Plant cell lines
Other species cell lines
Cell (biology)
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
are grown under controlled conditions. In practice, the term "cell culture" has come to refer to the culturing of cells derived from singlecellular eukaryote
Eukaryote
A eukaryote is an organism whose cells contain complex structures enclosed within membranes. Eukaryotes may more formally be referred to as the taxon Eukarya or Eukaryota. The defining membrane-bound structure that sets eukaryotic cells apart from prokaryotic cells is the nucleus, or nuclear...
s, 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. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
cells. However, there are also cultures of plants
Plant tissue culture
Plant tissue culture is a collection of techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues or organs under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium of known composition. Plant tissue culture is widely used to produce clones of a plant in a method known as micropropagation...
, fungi and microbes
Microbiological culture
A microbiological culture, or microbial culture, is a method of multiplying microbial organisms by letting them reproduce in predetermined culture media under controlled laboratory conditions. Microbial cultures are used to determine the type of organism, its abundance in the sample being tested,...
, including viruses
Viral culture
Viral culture is a laboratory test in which samples are placed with a cell type that the virus being tested for is able to infect. If the cells show changes, known as cytopathic effects, then the culture is positive....
, bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
and protist
Protist
Protists are a diverse group of eukaryotic microorganisms. Historically, protists were treated as the kingdom Protista, which includes mostly unicellular organisms that do not fit into the other kingdoms, but this group is contested in modern taxonomy...
s. The historical development and methods of cell culture are closely interrelated to those of tissue culture
Tissue culture
Tissue culture is the growth of tissues or cells 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 began when scientists removed a small amount of monkey kidney from a host organism and maintained it in a warm saline solution for several days, establishing the principle of tissue culture.
Isolation of cells
Cells can be isolated from tissues for ex vivoEx vivo
Ex vivo means that which takes place outside an organism. In science, ex vivo refers to experimentation or measurements done in or on tissue in an artificial environment outside the organism with the minimum alteration of 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 cells of the immune system involved in defending the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials. Five different and diverse types of leukocytes exist, but they are all produced and derived from a multipotent cell in the bone marrow known as a...
are capable of growth in culture. Mononuclear cells can be released from soft tissues by enzymatic digestion with enzyme
Enzyme
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
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 of many vertebrates, where it hydrolyses proteins. Trypsin is produced in the pancreas as the inactive proenzyme trypsinogen. Trypsin cleaves peptide chains mainly at the carboxyl side of the amino acids lysine or arginine, except when...
, 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 cells in addition to performing various other important functions. The extracellular matrix is the defining feature of connective tissue in animals.Extracellular...
. 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 cells, or small plants like the moss Physcomitrella patens.There are different types of media for growing different types of cells....
, and the cells that grow out are available for culture. This method is known as explant culture
Explant culture
In biology, explant culture is a technique used for the isolation of cells from a piece or pieces of 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 tumors, most primary cell cultures have limited lifespan. After a certain number of population doublings (called the Hayflick limit
Hayflick limit
The Hayflick limit is the number of times a normal cell population will divide before it stops, presumably because the telomeres reach a critical length....
), cells undergo the process of senescence
Senescence
Senescence or biological aging is the change in the biology of an organism as it ages after its maturity. Such changes range from those affecting its cells and their function to those affecting the whole organism...
and stop dividing, while generally retaining viability.
An established or immortalized cell line
Immortalised cell line
An immortalised cell line is population of cells from a multicellular organism which would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cells can therefore be grown for prolonged periods in vitro...
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 information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product. These products are often proteins, but in non-protein coding genes such as ribosomal RNA , transfer RNA or small nuclear RNA genes, the product is a functional RNA...
of the telomerase
Telomerase
Telomerase is an enzyme that adds DNA sequence repeats to the 3' end of DNA strands in the telomere regions, which are found at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. This region of repeated nucleotide called telomeres contains non-coding DNA material and prevents constant loss of important DNA from...
gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
.
Numerous cell lines are well established as representative of particular cell types.
Maintaining cells in culture
Cells are grown and maintained at an appropriate temperatureTemperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
and gas mixture (typically, 37°C, 5% CO2
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
for mammalian cells) in a cell incubator. 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 an organism's observable characteristics or traits: such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, behavior, and products of 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
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...
, 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 in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
, such as calf serum
Fetal bovine serum
Fetal bovine serum or FBS is the portion of plasma remaining after coagulation of blood, during which process the plasma protein fibrinogen is converted to fibrin and remains behind in the clot. Fetal bovine serum comes from the blood drawn from a bovine fetus via a closed system of collection at...
. 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 agent composed of protein in a misfolded form. This is in contrast to all other known infectious agents which must contain nucleic acids . The word prion, coined in 1982 by Stanley B. Prusiner, is a portmanteau derived from the words protein and infection...
s, particularly in medical biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
applications. Current practice is to minimize or eliminate the use of these ingredients wherever possible and use chemically defined media
Chemically defined medium
A chemically defined medium is a growth medium suitable for the in vitro cell culture of human or animal cells in which all of the chemical components are known...
, but this cannot always be accomplished. Alternative strategies involve sourcing the animal blood from countries with minimum BSE
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy , commonly known as mad-cow disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, about 30 months to 8 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of...
/TSE
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies , also known as prion diseases, are a group of progressive conditions that affect the brain and nervous system of many animals, including humans. According to the most widespread hypothesis they are transmitted by prions, though some other data suggest an...
risk, such as Australia and New Zealand, and using purified nutrient concentrates derived from serum in place of whole animal serum for cell culture.
Plating density (number of cells per volume of culture medium) plays a critical role for some cell types. For example, a lower plating density makes granulosa cell
Granulosa cell
A granulosa cell or follicular cell is a somatic cell of the sex cord that is closely associated with the developing female gamete in the ovary of mammals.-Anatomy and function:...
s exhibit estrogen production, while a higher plating density makes them appear as progesterone
Progesterone
Progesterone also known as P4 is a C-21 steroid hormone involved in the female menstrual cycle, pregnancy and embryogenesis of humans and other species...
-producing theca lutein cells.
Cells can be grown either 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 they can be grown to a higher density than adherent conditions would allow. Adherent cells require a surface, such as tissue culture plastic or microcarrier
Microcarrier
A microcarrier is a support matrix allowing for the growth of adherent cells in bioreactors.In 1967, microcarrier development began when van Wezel found that microcarriers could support the growth of anchorage-dependent cells.[1] Microcarriers are typically 125 - 250 micrometre spheres and their...
, 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 (3-D) 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 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 have 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 Collection (ATCC) and the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ), have received cell line submissions from researchers that were misidentified by them. 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 repeatShort tandem repeat
A short tandem repeat in DNA occurs when a pattern of two or more nucleotides are repeated and the repeated sequences are directly adjacent to each other. The pattern can range in length from 2 to 5 base pairs and is typically in the non-coding intron region...
(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. Many methods are used to identify cell lines, including isoenzyme analysis, human lymphocyte antigen (HLA) typing, chromosomal analysis, karyotyping, morphology and STR analysis
STR analysis
Short tandem repeat analysis is a molecular biology method used to compare specific loci on DNA from two or more samples. A short tandem repeat is a microsatellite, consisting of a unit of two to thirteen nucleotides repeated hundreds of times in a row on the DNA strand. STR analysis measures...
.
One significant cell-line cross contaminant is the immortal HeLa
HeLa
A HeLa cell is a cell type in an immortal cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The line was derived from cervical cancer cells taken on February 8, 1951 from Henrietta Lacks, a patient who eventually died of her cancer on October 4, 1951...
cell line.
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 apoptoticApoptosisApoptosis is the process of programmed cell death that may occur in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes and death. These changes include blebbing, cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin condensation, and chromosomal DNA fragmentation...
/necroticNecrosisNecrosis is the premature death of cells in living tissue. Necrosis is caused by factors external to the cell or tissue, such as infection, toxins, or trauma. This is in contrast to apoptosis, which is a naturally occurring cause of cellular death...
(dead) cells - Cell-to-cell contact can stimulate cell cycle arrest, causing cells to stop dividing, known as contact inhibitionContact inhibitionContact 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....
. - Cell-to-cell contact can stimulate cellular differentiationCellular differentiationIn 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 simple zygote to a complex system of...
.
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. Air is drawn through a HEPA filter and blown in a very smooth, laminar flow towards...
to exclude contaminating micro-organisms. Antibiotics (e.g. penicillin
Penicillin
Penicillin is a group of antibiotics derived from Penicillium fungi. They include penicillin G, procaine penicillin, benzathine penicillin, and penicillin V....
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. It is derived from the actinobacterium Streptomyces griseus. Streptomycin is a bactericidal antibiotic. Streptomycin cannot be given...
) and antifungals (e.g.amphotericin B
Amphotericin B
Amphotericin B is a polyene antifungal drug, often used intravenously for systemic fungal infections...
) 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 halochromic chemical compound that is added in small amounts to a solution so that the pH of the solution can be determined visually. Hence a pH indicator is a chemical detector for hydronium ions or hydrogen ions in the Arrhenius model. Normally, the indicator causes the...
is added to the medium to measure nutrient depletion.
Media changes
In the case of adherent cultures, the media can be removed directly by aspiration, and then is 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 trypsinTrypsin
Trypsin is a serine protease found in the digestive system of many vertebrates, where it hydrolyses proteins. Trypsin is produced in the pancreas as the inactive proenzyme trypsinogen. Trypsin cleaves peptide chains mainly at the carboxyl side of the amino acids lysine or arginine, except when...
-EDTA
EDTA
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, widely abbreviated as EDTA , is a polyamino carboxylic acid and a colourless, water-soluble solid. Its conjugate base is named ethylenediaminetetraacetate. It is widely used to dissolve limescale. Its usefulness arises because of its role as a hexadentate ligand...
; 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 transfectionTransfection
Transfection is the process of deliberately introducing nucleic acids into cells. The term is used notably for non-viral methods in eukaryotic cells...
. 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 polypeptide 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. The complementary RNAI binds RNAII prohibiting it from its initiation role...
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
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
es, in methods referred to as transduction
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. Transduction does not require cell-to-cell contact , and it is DNAase resistant...
, infection
Infection
An infection is the colonization of a host organism by parasite species. Infecting parasites seek to use the host's resources to reproduce, often resulting in disease...
or transformation
Transformation (genetics)
In molecular biology transformation is the genetic alteration of a cell resulting from the direct uptake, incorporation and expression of exogenous genetic material from its surroundings and taken up through the cell membrane. Transformation occurs naturally in some species of bacteria, but it can...
. 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 humanHuman
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
s have been somewhat controversial in bioethics
Bioethics
Bioethics is the study of controversial ethics 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, and philosophy....
, 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 highest state court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco and regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts.-Composition:...
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 lineImmortalised cell line
An immortalised cell line is population of cells from a multicellular organism which would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cells can therefore be grown for prolonged periods in vitro...
. This method is used to produce monoclonal antibodies. In brief, lymphocytes isolated from the spleen
Spleen
The spleen is an organ found in virtually all vertebrate animals with important roles in regard to red blood cells and the immune system. In humans, it is located in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. It removes old red blood cells and holds a reserve of blood in case of hemorrhagic shock...
(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 ....
animal are combined with an immortal myeloma cell line (B cell lineage) to produce a hybridoma
Hybridoma
Hybridoma technology is a technology of forming hybrid cell lines by fusing a specific antibody-producing B cell with a myeloma cell that is selected for its ability to grow in tissue culture and for an absence of antibody chain synthesis...
which has the antibody specificity of the primary lymphoctye and the immortality of the myeloma. 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 other products of biotechnologyBiological products produced by recombinant DNA
Recombinant DNA
Recombinant DNA molecules are DNA sequences that result from the use of laboratory methods to bring together genetic material from multiple sources, creating sequences that would not otherwise be found in biological organisms...
(rDNA) technology in animal cell cultures include enzymes, synthetic hormones, immunobiologicals (monoclonal antibodies
Monoclonal antibodies
Monoclonal antibodies are monospecific antibodies that are the same because they are made by identical immune cells that are all clones of a unique 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
Glycosylation
Glycosylation is the reaction in which a carbohydrate, i.e. a glycosyl donor, is attached to a hydroxyl or other functional group of another molecule . In biology glycosylation refers to the enzymatic process that attaches glycans to proteins, lipids, or other organic molecules...
(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 alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin 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 a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
cells or in higher plants, use of single embryonic cell and somatic
Somatic
The term somatic means 'of the body',, relating to the body. In medicine, somatic illness is bodily, not mental, illness. The term is often used in biology to refer to the cells of the body in contrast to the germ line cells which usually give rise to the gametes...
embryos as a source for direct gene transfer via particle bombardment, transit gene expression
Gene expression
Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product. These products are often proteins, but in non-protein coding genes such as ribosomal RNA , transfer RNA or small nuclear RNA genes, the product is a functional RNA...
and confocal microscopy
Confocal microscopy
Confocal microscopy is an optical imaging technique used to increase optical resolution and contrast of a micrograph by using point illumination and a spatial pinhole to eliminate out-of-focus light in specimens that are thicker than the focal plane. It enables the reconstruction of...
observation is one of its applications. It also offers to confirm single cell origin of somatic embryos and the asymmetry of the first cell division, which starts the process.
Cell culture in two dimensions
Research in tissue engineeringTissue engineering
Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions...
, stem cells and molecular biology
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
primarily involves cultures of cells on flat plastic dishes. This technique is known as two-dimensional (2D) cell culture, and was first developed by Wilhelm Roux
Wilhelm Roux
Wilhelm Roux was a German zoologist and pioneer of experimental embryology.Roux was born and educated in Jena, Germany where he attended university and studied under Ernst Haeckel. He also attended university in Berlin and Strasbourg and studied under Gustav Schwalbe, Friedrich Daniel von...
who, in 1885, removed a portion of the medullary plate of an embryonic chicken and maintained it in warm saline for several days on a flat glass plate. With the advance of polymer
Polymer
A polymer is a large molecule composed of repeating structural units. These subunits are typically connected by covalent chemical bonds...
technology, today's standard plastic dish for 2D cell culture, commonly known as the Petri dish
Petri dish
A Petri dish is a shallow glass or plastic cylindrical lidded dish that biologists use to culture cells or small moss plants. It was named after German bacteriologist Julius Richard Petri, who invented it when working as an assistant to Robert Koch...
, was invented by Julius Richard Petri
Julius Richard Petri
Julius Richard Petri was a German bacteriologist who is generally credited with inventing the Petri dish while working as assistant to Robert Koch....
, a German bacteriologist, who is generally credited with inventing the Petri dish while working as assistant to Robert Koch
Robert Koch
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch was a German physician. He became famous for isolating Bacillus anthracis , the Tuberculosis bacillus and the Vibrio cholerae and for his development of Koch's postulates....
.
Tissue culture and engineering
Cell culture is a fundamental component of tissue cultureTissue culture
Tissue culture is the growth of tissues or cells 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 tissue engineering
Tissue engineering
Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions...
, as it establishes the basics of growing and maintaining cells ex vivo.
The major application of human cell culture is in stem cell industry, where mesenchymal stem cell
Mesenchymal stem cell
Mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs, are multipotent stem cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types, including: osteoblasts , chondrocytes and adipocytes...
s can be cultured and cryopreserved for future use.
Vaccines
VaccineVaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
s for polio, measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an 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 is a viral disease of the human species, caused by the mumps virus. Before the development of vaccination and the introduction of a vaccine, it was a common childhood disease worldwide...
, rubella
Rubella
Rubella, commonly known as German measles, is a disease caused by the rubella virus. The name "rubella" is derived from the Latin, meaning little red. Rubella is also known as German measles because the disease was first described by German physicians in the mid-eighteenth century. This disease is...
, and chickenpox
Chickenpox
Chickenpox or chicken pox is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus . It usually starts with vesicular skin rash mainly on the body and head rather than at the periphery and becomes itchy, raw pockmarks, which mostly heal 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 influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species...
pandemic
Pandemic
A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic...
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 constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government. Novel ideas in the field include recombinant DNA
Recombinant DNA
Recombinant DNA molecules are DNA sequences that result from the use of laboratory methods to bring together genetic material from multiple sources, creating sequences that would not otherwise be found in biological organisms...
-based vaccines, such as one made using human adenovirus
Adenoviridae
Adenoviruses are medium-sized , nonenveloped icosahedral viruses composed of a nucleocapsid and a double-stranded linear DNA genome...
(a common cold virus) as a vector,
and novel adjuvants.
Plant cell culture methods
Plant cell cultures are typically grown as cell suspension cultures in a liquid medium or as callus culturesCallus (cell biology)
Plant callus is a mass of undifferentiated cells derived from plant tissue for use in biological research and biotechnology. In plant biology, callus cells are those cells that cover a plant wound. To induce callus formation, plant tissues are surface sterilized and then plated onto in vitro...
on a 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 hormones with some morphogen-like characteristics. Auxins have a cardinal role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in the plant's life cycle and are essential for plant body development. Auxins and their role in plant growth were first described by...
and cytokinin
Cytokinin
Cytokinins are a class of plant growth substances that promote cell division, or cytokinesis, in plant roots and shoots. They are involved primarily in cell growth and differentiation, but also affect apical dominance, axillary bud growth, and leaf senescence...
.
Bacterial and yeast culture methods
For bacteria and yeasts, 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 virusVirus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
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 refers to the phenotype of the typical form of a species as it occurs in nature. Originally, the wild type was conceptualized as a product of the standard, "normal" allele at a locus, in contrast to that produced by a non-standard, "mutant" allele...
viruses, recombinant
Recombinant DNA
Recombinant DNA molecules are DNA sequences that result from the use of laboratory methods to bring together genetic material from multiple sources, creating sequences that would not otherwise be found in biological organisms...
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
Viral replication
Viral replication is the term used by virologists to describe the formation of biological viruses during the infection process in the target host cells. Viruses must first get into the cell before viral replication can occur. From the perspective of the virus, the purpose of viral replication is...
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 bacterial cultures within some nutrient medium . The bacteriophage viruses replicate and spread, thus generating regions of cell destructions known as plaques....
.
Common cell lines
HumanHuman
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
cell lines
- HeLaHeLaA HeLa cell is a cell type in an immortal cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The line was derived from cervical cancer cells taken on February 8, 1951 from Henrietta Lacks, a patient who eventually died of her cancer on October 4, 1951...
- National Cancer InstituteNational Cancer InstituteThe National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...
's 60 cancerCancerCancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
cell lines - ESTDAB database
- DU145Du145DU145 and PC3 human prostate cancer cell lines are the "classical" cell lines of prostatic cancer. DU145 cells have moderate metastatic potential compared to PC3 cells which have high metastatic potential....
(prostate cancerProstate cancerProstate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
) - LncapLncapLNCaP 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) - MCF-7MCF7MCF-7 is a breast cancer cell line isolated in 1970 from a 69-year-old Caucasian woman. MCF-7 is the acronym of Michigan Cancer Foundation - 7, referring to the institute in Detroit where the cell line was established in 1973 by Herbert Soule and co-workers...
(breast cancerBreast cancerBreast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
) - MDA-MB-438 (breast cancer)
- PC3Pc3PC3 and DU145 human prostate cancer cell lines are the "classical" cell lines of prostatic cancer. PC3 cells have high metastatic potential compared to DU145 cells which have a moderate metastatic potential....
(prostate cancer) - T47D (breast cancer)
- THP-1THP1 cell lineTHP1 : This product is used to test leukemia cell lines in immunocytochemical analysis of protein-protein interaction, and immunohistochemistry.- Characteristics :Morphology: large, round, single cells...
(acute myeloidMyeloidThe term myeloid suggests an origin in the bone marrow or spinal cord, or a resemblance to the marrow or spinal cord.In hematopoiesis, the term "myeloid cell" is used to describe any leukocyte that is not a lymphocyte...
leukemiaLeukemiaLeukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
) - U87U87In cell biology , U87 is a human glioblastoma cell line formally known as U-87 MG. It has epithelial morphology, and was obtained from a stage three cancer patient....
(glioblastoma) - SHSY5Y Human neuroblastoma cells, cloned from a myeloma
- Saos-2 cellsSaos-2 cellsSaos-2 is 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
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
cell lines
- Vero (African green monkey ChlorocebusChlorocebusChlorocebus is a genus of 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 in 1962)
Rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily 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)
- PC12PC12 cellsPC12 is a cell line derived from a pheochromocytoma of the rat adrenal medulla. PC12 cells stop dividing and terminally differentiate when treated with nerve growth factor...
(pheochromocytomaPheochromocytomaA pheochromocytoma or phaeochromocytoma is a neuroendocrine tumor of the medulla of the adrenal glands , or extra-adrenal chromaffin tissue that failed to involute after birth and secretes excessive amounts of catecholamines, usually noradrenaline , and adrenaline to a lesser extent...
)
Mouse
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
cell lines
- MC3T3MC3T3MC3T3 is a strain of tissue culture cells derived from Mus musculus Various derivatives of this strain have been widely used as model systems in bone biology. A standard textbook calls its MC3T3-E1 sub-line "one of the most convenient and physiologically relevant systems for study of...
(embryonic calvarium)
Plant cell lines
- Tobacco BY-2 cells (kept as cell suspension culture, they are model systemModel organismA model organism is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the organism model will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. Model organisms are in vivo models and are widely used to...
of plant cell)
Other species cell lines
- Zebrafish ZF4 and AB9AB9Zebrafish 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 are grown in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine...
cells - Madin-Darby canine kidneyKidneyThe kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...
(MDCK) epithelial cell line - XenopusXenopusXenopus is a genus of highly aquatic frogs native to Sub-Saharan Africa. There are 19 species in the Xenopus genus...
A6A6-Biology:* British NVC community A6 , a British Isles plants community* Xenopus A6 kidney epithelial cells in cell culture* Subfamily A6, a Rhodopsin-like receptors subfamily- Transportation :*A6 road, in several countries...
kidney epithelial cells
List of cell lines
Cell line | Meaning | Organism | Origin tissue | Morphology | Link | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
293-T | Human | Kidney (embryonic) | Derivative of HEK 293 ECACC Cell Lines Data Base (CLDB) | |||
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. The 3T3 cell line has become the standard fibroblast cell line... |
"3-day transfer, inoculum 3 x 10^5 cells" | Mouse | Embryonic fibroblast | Also known as NIH 3T3 ECACC. Search for the many 3T3 cells in the CLDB. | ||
721 | Human | Melanoma | ||||
9L | Rat | Glioblastoma | ||||
A2780 | Human | Ovary | Ovarian cancer | ECACC, CLDB | ||
A2780ADR | Human | Ovary | Adriamycin-resistant derivative | ECACC | ||
A2780cis | Human | Ovary | Cisplatin-resistant derivative | ECACC | ||
A172 | Human | Glioblastoma | Malignant glioma Glioma A glioma is a type of tumor 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.-By type of cell:... |
ECACC | ||
A20 | Murine | B lymphoma Lymphoma Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage... |
B lymphocyte Lymphocyte A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell in the vertebrate immune system.Under the microscope, lymphocytes can be divided into large lymphocytes and small lymphocytes. Large granular lymphocytes include natural killer cells... |
|||
A253 | Human | Head and neck carcinoma Carcinoma Carcinoma is the medical term for the most common type of cancer occurring in humans. Put simply, a carcinoma is a cancer that begins in a tissue that lines the inner or outer surfaces of the body, and that generally arises from cells originating in the endodermal or ectodermal germ layer during... |
Submandibular duct | |||
A431 | Human | Skin epithelium | Squamous cell carcinoma Squamous cell carcinoma Squamous cell carcinoma , occasionally rendered as "squamous-cell carcinoma", is a histologically distinct form of cancer. It arises from the uncontrolled multiplication of malignant cells deriving from epithelium, or showing particular cytological or tissue architectural characteristics of... |
ECACCCLDB | ||
A-549 A549 cell A549 cells are adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells. A549 cells fall under the squamous subdivision of epithelial cells, associated with the diffusion of water, electrolytes, and other substances. The A549 cell line was first developed in 1972 by D. J. Giard, et al... |
Human | Lungcarcinoma | Epithelium | DSMZECACC | ||
ALC | Murine | Bone marrow Bone marrow Bone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones. In humans, bone marrow in large bones produces new blood cells. On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans; in adults weighing 65 kg , bone marrow accounts for approximately 2.6 kg... |
Stroma | |||
B16 | Murine | Melanoma Melanoma Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that produce the dark pigment, melanin, which is responsible for the color of skin. They predominantly occur in skin, but are also found in other parts of the body, including the bowel and the eye... |
ECCAC | |||
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 cases per year in the US , and 100 cases per year in the UK . Close to 50 percent of neuroblastoma cases occur in children younger than two years old... |
ATCC | |||
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 . BCP-1 cells are positive for KSHV, but negative for EBV... |
Human | PBMC PBMC A peripheral blood mononuclear cell is any blood cell having a round nucleus. For example: a lymphocyte, a monocyte or a macrophage. These blood cells are a critical component in the immune system to fight infection and adapt to intruders. The lymphocyte population consists of T cells , B cells... |
HIV+ lymphoma | ATCC | ||
BEAS-2B | Bronchial epithelium + Adenovirus 12-SV40 virus hybrid (Ad12SV40) | Human | Lung | Epithelial | ATCC | |
bEnd.3 | Brain endothelial | Mouse | Brain/cerebral cortex Cerebral cortex The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. It is constituted of up to six horizontal layers, each of which has a different... |
Endothelium | ATCC | |
BHK-21 | Baby hamster kidney fibroblast cells | Hamster Hamster Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily contains about 25 species, classified in six or seven genera.... |
Kidney Kidney The kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and... |
Fibroblast Fibroblast A fibroblast is a type of cell that synthesizes the extracellular matrix and collagen, the structural framework for animal tissues, and plays a critical role in wound healing... |
ECACCOlympus | |
BR 293 | Human | Breast | Breast cancer | |||
BxPC3 | Biopsy xenograph of pancreatic carcinoma line 3 | Human | Pancreatic adenocarcinoma | Epithelial | ATCC | |
C2C12 C2C12 C2C12 is a mouse myoblast cell line. C2C12 cells were originally obtained by Yaffe and Saxel through serial passage of myoblasts cultured from the thigh muscle of C3H mice after a crush injury. These cells are capable of differentiation... |
Mouse | Myoblast cell line | ECACC | |||
C3H-10T1/2 | Mouse | Embryonic mesenchymal cell line | ECACC | |||
C6/36 | Asian tiger mosquito Asian tiger mosquito The Asian tiger mosquito or forest day mosquito, Aedes albopictus , from the mosquito family, is characterized by its black and white striped legs, and small black and white striped body... |
Larval tissue | ECACC | |||
Cal-27 | Human | Tongue | Squamous cell carcinoma | |||
CHO Chinese Hamster Ovary cell Chinese hamster ovary cells are a cell line derived from the ovary of the Chinese hamster. They are often used in biological and medical research and commercially in the production of therapeutic proteins. They were introduced in the 1960s and grow as a cultured monolayer... |
Chinese hamster ovary | Hamster | Ovary | Epithelium | ECACCICLC | |
COR-L23 | Human | Lung | ECACC | |||
COR-L23/CPR | Human | Lung | ECACC | |||
COR-L23/5010 | Human | Lung | ECACC | |||
COR-L23/R23 | Human | Lung | Epithelial | ECACC | ||
COS-7 | Cercopithecus aethiops, origin-defective SV-40 | Ape - Cercopithecus aethiops (Chlorocebus Chlorocebus Chlorocebus is a genus of 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 | ECACCATCC | |
COV-434 | Human | Ovary | Metastatic granulosa cell carcinoma | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8436435ECACC | ||
CML T1 | Chronic myeloid leukaemia T lymphocyte 1 | Human | CML acute phase | T cell leukaemia | Blood | |
CMT | Canine mammary tumor | Dog | Mammary gland | Epithelium | ||
CT26 | Murine | Colorectal carcinoma Colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer, commonly known as bowel cancer, is a cancer caused by uncontrolled cell growth , in the colon, rectum, or vermiform appendix. Colorectal cancer is clinically distinct from anal cancer, which affects the anus.... |
Colon | |||
D17 | Canine | Osteosarcoma Osteosarcoma Osteosarcoma is an aggressive cancerous neoplasm arising from primitive transformed cells of mesenchymal origin that exhibit osteoblastic differentiation and produce malignant osteoid... |
ECACC | |||
DH82 | Canine | Histiocytosis | Monocyte Monocyte Monocytes are a type of white blood cell and are part of the innate immune system of vertebrates including all mammals , birds, reptiles, and fish. Monocytes play multiple roles in immune function... /macrophage Macrophage Macrophages are cells produced by the differentiation of monocytes in tissues. Human macrophages are about in diameter. Monocytes and macrophages are phagocytes. Macrophages function in both non-specific defense as well as help initiate specific defense mechanisms of vertebrate animals... |
ECACC J Vir Meth |
||
DU145 | Human | Androgen Androgen Androgen, also called androgenic hormone or testoid, is the generic term for any natural or synthetic compound, usually a steroid hormone, that stimulates or controls the development and maintenance of male characteristics in vertebrates by binding to androgen receptors... insensitive carcinoma Carcinoma Carcinoma is the medical term for the most common type of cancer occurring in humans. Put simply, a carcinoma is a cancer that begins in a tissue that lines the inner or outer surfaces of the body, and that generally arises from cells originating in the endodermal or ectodermal germ layer during... |
Prostate | |||
DuCaP | Dura mater Dura mater The dura mater , or dura, is the outermost of the three layers of the meninges surrounding the brain and spinal cord. It is derived from Mesoderm. The other two meningeal layers are the pia mater and the arachnoid mater. The dura surrounds the brain and the spinal cord and is responsible for... cancer of the prostate |
Human | Metastatic prostate cancer | Epithelial | {Ehrlich ascites carcinoma} mice |
|
EL4 | Mouse | T cell leukaemia | ECACC | |||
EM2 | Human | CML blast crisis | Ph+ CML line | CLDB | ||
EM3 | Human | CML blast crisis | Ph+ CML line | CLDB | ||
EMT6/AR1 | Mouse | Breast | Epithelial-like | ECACC | ||
EMT6/AR10.0 | Mouse | Breast | Epithelial-like | ECACC | ||
FM3 | Human | Metastatic lymph node | Melanoma | |||
H1299 H1299 H1299, also known as NCI-H1299 or CRL-5803, is a human non-small cell lung carcinoma cell line derived from the lymph node, which is widely used in research.As with other immortalized cell lines, H1299 cells can divide indefinitely... |
Human | Lung | Lung cancer | |||
H69 | Human | Lung | ECACC | |||
HB54 | Hybridoma Hybridoma Hybridoma technology is a technology of forming hybrid cell lines by fusing a specific antibody-producing B cell with a myeloma cell that is selected for its ability to grow in tissue culture and for an absence of antibody chain synthesis... |
Hybridoma | Secretes L243 mAb (against HLA-DR) | Human Immunology | ||
HB55 | Hybridoma | Hybridoma | secretes MA2.1 mAb (against HLA-A2 and HLA-B17) | Journal of Immunology | ||
HCA2 | Human | Fibroblast | Journal of General Virology | |||
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. HEK 293 cells are very easy to grow and transfect very readily and have been... |
Human embryonic kidney | Human | Kidney (embryonic) | Epithelium | ATCC | |
HeLa HeLa A HeLa cell is a cell type in an immortal cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The line was derived from cervical cancer cells taken on February 8, 1951 from Henrietta Lacks, a patient who eventually died of her cancer on October 4, 1951... |
"Henrietta Lacks" | Human | Cervical cancer Cervical cancer Cervical cancer is malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri or cervical area. One of the most common symptoms is abnormal vaginal bleeding, but in some cases there may be no obvious symptoms until the cancer is in its advanced stages... |
Epithelium | DSMZECACC | |
Hepa1c1c7 | Clone 7 of clone 1 hepatoma line 1 | Mouse | Hepatoma | Epithelial | ECACC ATCC |
|
HL-60 | Human leukemia | Human | Myeloblast Myeloblast The myeloblast is a unipotent stem cell, which will differentiate into one of the actors of the Granulocyte series.- Origin :These cells descend from the primitive reticulum cells, which are found in the stroma of the marrow. There is also an intermediate phase between the myeloblast and these... |
Blood cells | ECACCDSMZ | |
HMEC | Human mammary epithelial cell | Human | Epithelium | ECACC | ||
HT-29 | Human | Colon epithelium | Adenocarcinoma | ECACC CLDB |
||
Jurkat Jurkat cells Jurkat cells are an immortalized line of T lymphocyte cells that are used to study acute T cell leukemia, T cell signaling, and the expression of various chemokine receptors susceptible to viral entry, particularly HIV. Jurkat cells are also useful in science because of their ability to produce... |
Human | T cell leukemia Leukemia Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases... |
white blood cells | ECACC DSMZ |
||
JY cells | Human | Lymphoblastoid | EBV immortalised B cell | |||
K562 cells K562 cells K562 cells were the first human immortalised myelogenous leukemia line to be established. K562 cells are of the erythroleukemia type, and the line is derived from a 53 year old female CML patient in blast crisis.... |
Human | Lymphoblastoid | CML blast crisis | ECACC | ||
Ku812 | Human | Lymphoblastoid | Erythroleukemia | ECACC LGCstandards |
||
KCL22 | Human | Lymphoblastoid | CML | |||
KG1 | Human | Lymphoblastoid | AML | |||
KYO1 | Kyoto 1 | Human | Lymphoblastoid | CML | DSMZ | |
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... |
Lymph node cancer of the prostate | Human | Prostatic adenocarcinoma | Epithelial | ECACCATCC | |
Ma-Mel 1, 2, 3....48 | Human | A range of melanoma cell lines | ||||
MC-38 | Mouse | Adenocarcinoma | ||||
MCF-7 | Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 | Human | Mammary gland | Invasive breast ductal carcinoma | ER+, PR+ | |
MCF-10A | Michigan Cancer Foundation | Human | Mammary gland | Epithelium | ATCC | |
MDA-MB-231 | M.D. Anderson - metastatic breast | Human | Breast | Cancer | ECACC | |
MDA-MB-468 | M.D. Anderson - metastatic breast | Human | Breast | Cancer | ECACC | |
MDA-MB-435 | M.D. Anderson - Metastatic Breast | Human | Breast | Melanoma or carcinoma (disputed) | Cambridge Pathology ECACC | |
MDCK II | Madin Darby canine kidney | Dog | Kidney | Epithelium | ECACC ATCC | |
MDCK II | Madin Darby canine kidney | Dog | Kidney | Epithelium | http://www.hpacultures.org.uk/products/celllines/generalcell/search.jsp?searchtext=MDCK&dosearch=true ATCC | |
MG63 | Human | Bone | Osteosarcoma | |||
MOR/0.2R | Human | Lung | ECACC | |||
MONO-MAC 6 | Human | WBC | Myeloid metaplasic AML AML AML may refer to:* AML, stage name of Canadian TV producer, TV host and singer Anne-Marie Losique* Academia Mexicana de la Lengua, or Mexican Academy of Language, a national academy in Mexico responsible for regulating the Spanish language... |
CLDB | ||
MRC5 | Human (foetal) | Lung | Fibroblast] | |||
MTD-1A | Mouse | Epithelium | ||||
MyEnd | Myocardial endothelial | Mouse | Endothelium | |||
NCI-H69/CPR | Human | Lung | ECACC | |||
NCI-H69/LX10 | Human | Lung | ECACC | |||
NCI-H69/LX20 | Human | Lung | ECACC | |||
NCI-H69/LX4 | Human | Lung | ECACC | |||
NIH-3T3 | NIH National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation... , 3-day transfer, inoculum 3 x 105 cells |
Mouse | Embryo | Fibroblast | ECACCATCC | |
NALM-1 | Peripheral blood | Blast-crisis CML | Cancer Genetics and Cytogenetics | |||
NW-145 | Melanoma | ESTDAB | ||||
OPCN / OPCT cell lines | Onyvax http://www.onyvax.com prostate cancer.... | Range of prostate tumour lines | Asterand | |||
Peer | Human | T cell leukemia | DSMZ | |||
PNT-1A / PNT 2 | Prostate tumour lines | ECACC | ||||
RenCa | Renal carcinoma | Mouse | Renal carcinoma | |||
RIN-5F | Mouse | Pancreas | ||||
RMA/RMAS | Mouse | T cell tumour | ||||
Saos-2 cells Saos-2 cells Saos-2 is 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 | ECACC | |||
Sf-9 | Spodoptera frugiperda | Insect - Spodoptera frugiperda (moth) | Ovary | DSMZECACC | ||
SiHa | Human | Cervical cancer | Epithelium | ECACC | ||
SkBr3 | Human | Breast carcinoma | ||||
T2 | Human | T cell leukemia/B cell line hybridoma | DSMZ | |||
T-47D | Human | Mammary gland | Ductal carcinoma | |||
T84 | Human | Colorectal carcinoma / Lung metastasis | Epithelium | ECACCATCC | ||
THP1 cell line THP1 cell line THP1 : This product is used to test leukemia cell lines in immunocytochemical analysis of protein-protein interaction, and immunohistochemistry.- Characteristics :Morphology: large, round, single cells... |
Human | Monocyte | AML | ECACC | ||
U373 | Human | Glioblastoma-astrocytoma | Epithelium | |||
U87 | Human | Glioblastoma-astrocytoma | Epithelial-like | Abcam | ||
U937 | Human | Leukaemic monocytic lymphoma | ECACC | |||
VCaP | Vertebra prostate cancer | Human | Metastatic prostate cancer | Epithelial | ECACC ATCC | |
Vero cells | Vero (truth) | African green monkey | Kidney epithelium | ECACC | ||
WM39 | Human | Skin | Primary melanoma | |||
WT-49 | Human | Lymphoblastoid | ||||
X63 | Mouse | Melanoma | ||||
YAC-1 | Mouse | Lymphoma | CLDB ECACC | |||
YAR | Human | B cell | EBV transofrmed | http://www.hpacultures.org.uk/products/celllines/hlatyped/detail.jsp?refId=95042721&collection=ecacc_hlad Human Immunology | ||
See also
- Biological immortalityBiological immortalityBiological immortality refers to a stable rate of mortality as a function of chronological age. Some individual cells and entire organisms in some species achieve this state either throughout their existence or after living long enough. This requires that death occur from injury or disease rather...
- Cell culture assaysCell culture assaysIn Biomaterials Testing, a cell culture assay is any method which is used to assess the cytotoxicity of a material. This refers to the in vitro assessment of material to determine whether it releases toxic chemicals in sufficient quantities to kill cells either directly or indirectly through the...
- Electric cell-substrate impedance sensingElectric cell-substrate impedance sensingElectric cell-substrate impedance sensing or ECISTM refers to a non-invasive biophysical approach to monitor living animal cells in vitro, i.e...
- List of contaminated cell lines
- Organ cultureOrgan cultureOrgan 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....
- Plant tissue culturePlant tissue culturePlant tissue culture is a collection of techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues or organs under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium of known composition. Plant tissue culture is widely used to produce clones of a plant in a method known as micropropagation...
- Tissue cultureTissue cultureTissue culture is the growth of tissues or cells separate from the organism. This is typically facilitated via use of a liquid, semi-solid, or solid growth medium, such as broth or agar...
External links
- Helpful Hints for Better Aseptic Technique
- Information About Cell Culture Testing
- Table of common cell lines from Alberts 4th ed.
- Cancer Cells in Culture
- Hypertext version of the Cell Line Data Base
- Cell Culture Basics - Introduction to cell culture, covering topics such as laboratory set-up, safety and aseptic technique including basic cell culture protocols and video training
- Database of Who's Who in Cell Culture and Related Research
- Witkowski JA. Experimental pathology and the origins of tissue culture: Leo Loeb's contribution. Med Hist. 1983 July; 27(3): 269–288.
- Coriell Cell Repositories
- The National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune, India; national repository for cell lines/hybridomas etc.
- Neural Stem Cell Culture: Neurosphere generation, microscopical analysis and cryopreservation (a protocol)
- Rat Chromaffin cells primary cultures: Standardization and quality assessment for single-cell assays (a protocol)