Week 4: Growing and Studying Neural Cells in a Dish

Question 1

The cultivation of eukaryotic tissues or dissociated cells outside of the organism, in a growth media with the necessary nutrients, inorganic salts, and pH required to function in a physiologically normal manner.

Answer 1

Tissue Culture

Question 2

Culturing of dissociated cells rather than pieces of tissues.

Answer 2

Cell Culture

Question 3

Why is tissue culture useful?

Answer 3

It’s useful as a model system for studying the basic processes of cell biology; also has many clinical applications.

Question 4

What are some examples of tissue culture in a clinical application?

Answer 4

1. Diagnosis of chromosomal disorders from the culture of blood or amniotic fluid samples.
2. Generation of monoclonal antibodies for the production of vaccines as a result of the development of hybridoma cell lines.
3. In vitro fertilization, through techniques developed for the culture of the early embryo.

Question 5

Most cell types, with the exception of blood cells, grow attached to an _________ _________

Answer 5

Extracellular Matrix (ECM)

Question 6

Composed of a complex mixture of polysaccharides and proteins such as collagens and laminin

Answer 6

The Extracellular Matrix

Question 7

____ _______ ________ on the surface of many cells bind strongly to the components of the ECM. These contacts have to be disrupted to detach cells without causing cell death.

Answer 7

Cell adhesion molecules.

Question 8

The use of _______ also allowed for the re-plating of cells grown attached to a substrate.

Answer 8

Trypsin

Question 9

Dissociated cells can be frozen indefinitely in ______ _______

Answer 9

Liquid nitrogen

Question 10

Most modern tissue culture vessels are made of _______, are _____, and are intended for ________ use.
-reduces the risk of microbial contamination and cross-contamination of cell lines

Answer 10

plastic; sterile; single

Question 11

Most tissue culture is performed in plates or flasks in varying sizes, often in varying sizes to prevent what?

Answer 11

airborne particles entering while allowing the free exchange of gasses

Question 12

Widespread use of the antibiotics, penicillin and streptomycin, in the 1940s + reduced the problem of ______ contamination of cultures?

Answer 12

Microbial

Question 13

_______ & _______ are ineffective against certain common strains of bacteria, such as mycoplasma

Answer 13

Penicillin and Streptomycin

Question 14

The smallest known bacterial cells, making them difficult to observe under conventional light microscopes (<1 micron in length)

Answer 14

Mycoplasma

Question 15

What is the best practice to prevent contamination?

Answer 15

Employing an aseptic technique

Question 16

What is an antibiotic that IS effective against mycoplasmas?

Answer 16

Ciprofloxacin

Question 17

One of the most important developments in improving aseptic techniques, designed to protect the user from hazardous microbes

Answer 17

Biological safety cabinets

Question 18

Protects both the user and the environment from the sample; does not protect the sample from airborne particles from the environment

Answer 18

Class I cabinets

Question 19

Protects samples from outside contamination; relies on a continuous uniform flow of clean filtered air travelling down over the sample; effective @ reducing microbial contaminants

Answer 19

Class II Cabinets

Question 20

Completely encloses the sample, which can be accessed through the gloves integrated into the cabinet

Answer 20

Class III cabinets

Question 21

Tissue culture incubators maintain a number of critical parameters to allow optimal growth and survival, which are:

Answer 21

1. Constant levels of temperature, humidity, CO2, and Oxygen
2. Most media currently in use for tissue culture use buffers that require an atmosphere of 5% CO2 to maintain a physiological PH
3. Some cell types s/a pluripotent stem cells grow better under low oxygen conditions - specific incubators can reduce oxygen levels w/ displacement by nitrogen

Question 22

1961, Hayflick and Moorhead derived the first strains of human fibroblasts (WI-38) young human diploid cells, making the distinction between what?

Answer 22

primary cells, cell lines, and cell strains

Question 23

Are derived from normal tissue and grown without passaging.

Answer 23

Primary cells

Question 24

Are derived from primary cells which a limited capacity for growth and division, but retain a normal karyotype

Answer 24

Cell Strains

Question 25

Have the capacity to grow indefinitely and invariably have abnormal karyotypes

Answer 25

Cell Lines

Question 26

The size, shape, and number of chromosomes in a cell

Answer 26

Karyotype

Question 27

In 1951, George Otto Gey cultured cells from Henrietta Lacks with cervical cancer, discovering that the cells derived from the cervical tumour could do what?

Answer 27

Grow and divide indefinitely

& generated a cell line from a single cell - HeLa cells

Question 28

Aided the development of the first Polio vaccine

Answer 28

HeLa Cells

Question 29

A major advance in the development of cell lines that can be grown indefinitely & yet retain a normal karyotype & also the capacity to differentiate into specific cell types

Answer 29

Embryonic stem cells

Question 30

Established cultures of cells derived from mouse blastocysts can in principle generate:

Answer 30

any cell type of the body in a cell culture dish

Question 31

The first generated human embryonic stem cells from human blastocysts allowed for the generation of:

Answer 31

Inaccessible cell types, such as neurons, in large numbers for the first time

Question 32

Through a process called reprogramming, it is possible to produce what by directly manipulating somatic cells, such as fibroblasts?

Answer 32

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSCs)

Question 33

Used to study genetic diseases and inaccessible cell types, s/a neurons

Answer 33

IPSCs

Question 34

Transplanted cells will be genetically identical to that individual, eliminating the risk of rejection or the use of immunosuppressive drugs - describes a major advantage of what type of medicine?

Answer 34

Regenerative Medicine