1f- Aseptic technique and cell culture Flashcards
Why is aseptic technique necessary?
It eliminates unwanted microbial contaminants when culturing micro-organisms or cells
What does aseptic technique involve?
The sterialisation of equipment and culture media by heat or chemical means and subsequent exclusion of microbial contaminants
How can a microbial culture be started?
Using an inoculum of microbial cells on an agar medium, or in a broth with suitable nutrients
Animal cells are grown in medium containing what?
Growth factors from serum
What are growth factors?
Proteins that promote cell growth and proliferation. They are essential for the culture of most animal cells
What is the difference between primary and tumour cell lines?
Primary cell lines can divide a limited number of times whereas tumour cell lines can perform unlimited divisions
Plating out of a liquid microbial culture on solid media allows what to happen?
The number of colony-forming units to be counted and the density of the culture to be estimated
What is often needed to achieve a suitable colony count?
Serial dilution
What does a haemocytometer give?
An estimation of the number of cells in a liquid culture
What is often required to identify and count viable cells?
Vital staining
In vital staining, what type of cells take up the stain?
Dead ones
