Contributions to Tissue Culture Technic

Abstract

Preparation of Beef Plasma Beef plasma can be employed successfully for the growth in vitro of both normal and pathological human and animal tissues. It was introduced as early as 1929 (3) and has been used regularly since that time. It can be obtained in large quantities, is easily sterilized, and therefore can be employed on a scale hardly possible with plasma procured from the more common laboratory animals. Especially where mass cultivation of tissue is concerned, such plasma can be used to great advantage. Only the initial step has been taken in this direction, but there can be little doubt that mass cultivation of tissue will play an ever increasing role in the future development of tissue culture technic. A general description of the preparation of beef plasma was published ten years ago (3), at which time the plasma prepared from beef blood was sterilized by treatment with ultraviolet light. This method, utilized over a period of several years, was ultimately replaced by filtration through a porcelain candle, a process which is much simpler and by which large amounts of plasma can be sterilized easily. The technic herein described has been in use for a period of years in this laboratory and has given consistently good results.