Evaluation of process parameters in shake flasks for mammalian cell culture

Abstract

Shake flask cultivation is nowadays a routine technique during process development for mammalian cell lines. During shaken culture, changes in agitation velocity, shaking diameter or shake flask size affect the hydrodynamics in the shake flask. This might be reflected in the growth of the cultured cells. Process parameters such as power input, mixing time, fluid velocity etc. have been determined and described mathematically for shake flasks used for microbial cultivation, but only to some extend for mammalian cell culture. Especially the relationship between these parameters and growth characteristics of mammalian cells is still a relatively uncovered issue. In this work, process parameters like specific power input, mixing time, maximum fluid velocity and Reynolds number were determined for four different shake flasks (baffled and unbaffled) in a range of shaking velocities on a shaking machine. The specific growth rate (μmax) of the human industrial cell line AGE1.HN® (ProBioGen AG, Berlin, Germany) was compared to the respective process parameters.