Estimating cell specific oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide production rates for mammalian cells in perfusion culture

Abstract

We present robust methods for online estimation of cell specific oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide production rates (q(O2) and q(CO2), respectively) during perfusion cultivation of mammalian cells. Perfusion system gas and liquid phase mass balance expressions for oxygen and carbon dioxide were used to estimate q(O2), q(CO2) and the respiratory quotient (RQ) for Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells in perfusion culture over 12 steady states with varying dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, and temperature set points. Under standard conditions (DO = 50%, pH = 6.8, T = 36.5°C), q(O2) and q(CO2) ranges were 5.14-5.77 and 5.31-6.36 pmol/cell day, respectively, resulting in RQ values of 0.98-1.14. Changes to DO had a slight reducing effect on respiration rates with q(O2) and q(CO2) values of 4.64 and 5.47, respectively, at DO = 20% and 4.57 and 5.12 at DO = 100%. Respiration rates were lower at low pH with q(O2) and q(CO2) values of 4.07 and 4.15 pmol/cell day at pH = 6.6 and 4.98 and 5.36 pmol/cell day at pH = 7. Temperature also impacted respiration rates with respective q(O2) and q(CO2) values of 3.97 and 4.02 pmol/cell day at 30.5°C and 5.53 and 6.25 pmol/cell day at 37.5°C. Despite these changes in q(O2) and q(CO2) values, the RQ values in this study ranged from 0.98 to 1.23 suggesting that RQ was close to unity. Real-time q(O2) and q(CO2) estimates obtained using the approach presented in this study provide additional quantitative information on cell physiology both during bioprocess development and commercial biotherapeutic manufacturing.