Analyzing Cell, Molecules, and Systems 1 Flashcards
What happened in cell culture discoveries in 1948?
First use of antibiotics in tissue culture by Keilova.
What happened in cell culture discoveries in 1952?
Development of HeLa cell line by Gey, et al.
What happened in cell culture discoveries in 1964?
Discovery of pluripotency of embryonic stem cells by Kleinsmith and Pierce.
What happened in cell culture discoveries in 1990?
Application of cell culture to production of biotherapeutic agents.
What happened in cell culture discoveries in 2000?
Mapping of the human genome.
What happened in cell culture discoveries in 2008?
Era of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSc’s) - promises and challenges.
What does cell culture refer to?
Refers to the removal of cells from an organism, and promote their subsequent growth in a favorable artificial environment.
What is a primary cell culture derived from?
Derived from an explant, directly from the animal.
How long does a primary cell culture survive?
Only survive for a finite period of time.
True or False:
Primary cell culture involves enzymatic and/or mechanical disruption of the tissue ad some selection steps to isolate the cells of interest from a heterogeneous population.
True
What is a estblished or continuous cell line?
A primary culture that has BECOME IMMORTAL due to some transformation.
> most commonly tumour derived, or transformed with a virus such as Epstein-Barr.
What are some common established or continuous cell lines that are commonly used in laboratories?
- CHO (Chinese Hamster Ovary)
- SH-SY-5Y (human neuroblastoma derived)
- He-La (human cervical cancer)
- K562 (human erythroleukemia)
- HEK293 (Human Embryonic Kidney)
What is a primary cell culture?
Divides only a limited number of times before losing their ability to proliferate, which is a genetically determined event known as SENESCENCE; these cell lines are known as FINITE.
Where are cells that are used to start primary cell cultures derived from?
Directly from animal tissue - embryo or adult? Normal or neoplastic?
What are primary cell cultures cultured as?
Either as tissue explants or single cells; which start as a heterogeneous population.
Do cells that are used to start a primary cell culture started as a heterogeneous population?
Yes - start as a heterogeneous population.
What are cell line cultures derived from?
primary or secondary culture
Are cell line cultures mortal or immortalized?
immortalized - spontaneous genetic mutation or by transformation vectors
What causes immortalization of cell line cultures?
spontaneous genetic mutation or by transformation vectors (e.g., viruses and/or plasmids)
True or False:
Cell line cultures have a “more” differentiated phenotype.
True
True or False:
Cell line cultures have an infinite life span in vitro and are easy to grow and to cryopreserve for future experiments.
True
Are cell line cultures commercially available or obtained by collaborators?
Yes (American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) or other companies))
What cell line culture is commonly used as a Parkinson’s model in the laboratory?
SH-SY5Y - Neuroblastoma
What is a immortalized cell line?
- introduction of a viral gene that partially changes the cell cycle regulation (e.g., the adenovirus E1 gene was used to immortalize the HEK 293 cell line).
- artificial expression of key proteins required for immortality (e.g., telomerase which prevents degradation of chromosome ends during DNA replication in eukaryotes).
What are the 3 basic categories of mammalian cells in culture that are based on their morphology?
1) fibroblastic (or fibroblast-like) cells
2) epithelial-like cells
3) lymphoblast-like cells
What are fibroblastic (or fibroblast-like) cells?
> bipolar or multipolar
> have elongated shapes
> grow attached to a substrate
What are epithelial-like cells?
> polygonal in shape with more regular dimensions
> grow attached to a substrate in discrete patches
What are lymphoblast-like cells?
> spherical in shape
> usually grown in suspension without attaching to a surface
Which cell category are grown in suspension without attaching to a surface?
lymphoblast-like cells
Which cell category grows attached to a substrate in discrete patches?
epithelial-like cells
Which cell category grows attached to a substrate, but not in discrete patches?
fibroblastic (or fibroblast-like) cells
What are the advantages of a cell line culture?
- study of cell behaviour without the variations that occur in animal
- characteristics of cells can be maintained over several generations, leading to good reproducibility between experiments
- control of the growth environment leads to uniformity of sample
- cultures can be exposed to reagents (e.g., radio-chemicals or drugs at defined concentrations)
What are the disadvantages of a cell line culture?
- have to develop standardized techniques in order to maintain healthy reproducible cells for experiments.
- takes time to learn aseptic technique.
- quantity of material is limited.
- dedifferentiation and selection can occur and many of the original cellular mechanisms can be lost.
- it can be costly depending on the type of cells.
What are the applications of a cell line culture?
- basic research on cell/gene function
- production of biological products (hormones, proteins, antibodies).
- testing of drugs, vaccines, and chemical toxicity.
- chromosomal or genetic analysis - clinical diagnostics.
- regenerative medicine
Why is protein purification difficult?
Challenging to isolate a single protein from thousands of others present in a cell.
Why is protein purification important?
Purification is crucial to study the structure and function of individual proteins.
What technique is used to overexpress a protein so that it can be purified?
recombinant DNA technology
What type of proteins are purified?
endogenous proteins
To purify endogenous proteins, what type of technique usually needs to be performed?
sub-cellular fractionation