Cell Culture Flashcards
Why do tumour cells grow in suspension?
They no longer require being adhered to a surface to divide, so can keep dividing while floating around
Where did HeLa cells come from?
Henrietta Lacks. Human cervical cancer cells that were removed from a biopsy
What is cell culture?
Growing animal or plant cells in a favourable artificial environment
What is primary cell culture?
Cell culture of where the cells came directly from the animal or plant
How do you prepare a primary cell culture?
Normal tissues or whole embryos are taken and disaggregated. Then the adhesion is disrupted, then the released cells are put into a nutrient rich, serum supplemented media in special tissue culture dishes
How do you break the cell adhesion when making a primary cell culture?
Short treatments with trypsin and collagenase
Why do mammalian cells have to be grown in serum?
They need growth factors and proteins for division and differentiation
What is special about tissue culture dishes?
They’re coated in extracellular matrix proteins so the cells can adhere
What is an issue with using cell cultures to study cell processes?
They’ve been taken out of the organism and out of context, so might not represent physiological conditions
When is a cell culture considered primary?
From when its isolated from the organism to when the cells are first passaged
What are 3 applications of results obtained though cell culture?
Drug screening
Model system to study physiology and the effects of drugs and toxins
Manufacture of biological compounds
Why are cell cultures really good for reproducible research?
The cells are clonal and all come from the same known source. Easy to give to other people and get similar results
What is a cell line?
Subcultured lineage of cells originating from a primary culture
What’s the difference between a cell line and a cell strain?
Cell strains are finite and have a genetically determined number of divisions before they reach senescence. Cell lines are immortal
What is cell senescence?
When the cells have reached the maximum amount of divisions and will die
