Services :: Pilot Scale Production :: Microcarrier Culture
Many cell lines are said to be “anchorage dependent,” which means that in order to grow and divide they must attach themselves to a suitable surface. At the research scale they are typically grown in small plastic flasks or plates. However, large-scale production of anchorage-dependent cells or cell derived products has had to rely on methods other than a simple linear expansion of this process. Traditionally, roller bottles have been employed for this task. The rolling action ensures that the cells are alternately exposed to growth medium and oxygen. The roller bottle method however, is very cumbersome and expensive for the production of large quantities of cells for a number of reasons: the roller bottles are an inefficient use of space, they require extensive handling, labor and medium, and the process is difficult to monitor. Over the years a number of schemes for growing large quantities of anchorage-dependent cells have been examined. These include spiral film, plastic bags, packed or fluidized beds, hollow fiber beds, and microcarrier suspension culture. In our experience, microcarrier suspension culture has been the most successful of the different approaches.

Microcarrier Suspension Culture
The microcarrier technique was first developed at the Laboratory for Inactivated Virusvaccines (Bilthoven, The Netherlands) under the direction of Dr. Van Wezel. It involves allowing the cells to attach to microscopic polymer beads, or microcarriers. Later, a group at MIT was able to improve the process by modifying the surface charge of the beads which allowed cells on microcarriers to grow to densities equal to or greater than those achieved by cells adapted to growth in suspension.

Microcarriers at Vista
At Vista Biologicals we have worked with microcarriers since our inception. We have grown a large number of different cell types on microcarriers at scales up to 200 liters. In addition we have worked extensively with microcarrier perfusion cultures which can maintain cells at very high densities for extended periods of time (one ten liter culture was maintained in continuous operation for a year).