Large-Scale Use of Animal Cell Cultures

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the large-scale use of animal cell cultures. There has been a cultivation of animal cells in vitro, after the introduction of the organ culture method. These techniques have been utilized in almost every phase of research in biology. Prior to the past decade, however, cell, tissue, and organ culture were almost exclusively research tools, considered to be too exacting and uncertain for use on a large scale or on a routine basis. The application of cell culture methods to the study of animal viruses is a notable example of the progress made during the past decade. Improvement of cell culture procedures made possible a rapid adaptation of methods used with great success in the bacterial virus field. Such developments have opened entire new areas of investigation and of application of fundamental knowledge, not only in virology but in many other fields as well. In addition, an application of potentially even greater significance is the utilization of animal cells for the production, in vitro, of chemicals by fermentation methods. Heavy demands for the application of cell culture techniques in research particularly in the burgeoning fields of virology and cancer research have tended to focus attention on these areas in recent years. Recently, however, a general interest again has been manifested in the possible applications of large-scale cell culture for other uses.