Cell culture is whereby animal or plant cells are removed from tissues, continue to grow if provided with the appropriate nutrients and conditions and this process is carried out in a laboratory.
Types of cells grown in culture
Cell cultures are derived from either primary tissue explants of cell suspensions. Primary cells are cells that are cultured directly from a subject. Most primary cell cultures have a finite life span in cultures. However, if after several sub culturing onto a fresh media, the cell line did not die and transform into a continuous cell line. Such transformed cell lines display many alterations from the primary cultures which include changes in morphology, chromosomal variation (e.g. polyploidy where there are more than two homologous sets of chromosomes),etc.
Trypsinisation: cells are cultivated in glass or treated plastic surface flask in a suitable growth medium. Such adherent cells multiply to form a confluent monolayer of cells on the growth surface. Trypsin, a proteolytic enzyme can be used to detached the cells from the surface and from one another. The detached cells are then transferred to new flasks for sub culturing of these cells.
Tissue culture methods for detection
Virus, by subverting its host to make more copies of itself and next, replicating itself into large numbers. In doing that, virus usually cause some changes to its infected host such as morphology of the cell changes, cells swelling or shrinking, etc. These changes are known as cytopathic effects (CPE).
Plaque assay is a technique based on one virus infects one cell and spreads to surrounding cells; the virus then killed the cells and thus forming plaques. This method requires that the virus infects a cell line that grows as a monolayer. There is higher accuracy when the concentration of virus sample is low therefore serial dilution of the virus sample is done.
2. If the concentration of virus is low enough, then one virus will infect one cell.
3. If this infected monolayer is grown under a gel, only neighbouring cells can be infected after a virus burst.
4. This will result in the formation of a visible circular plaque as more cells are infected.
By man hua.
Trypsinisation: cells are cultivated in glass or treated plastic surface flask in a suitable growth medium. Such adherent cells multiply to form a confluent monolayer of cells on the growth surface. Trypsin, a proteolytic enzyme can be used to detached the cells from the surface and from one another. The detached cells are then transferred to new flasks for sub culturing of these cells.