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

Abstract

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