Phased culture of cells

摘要

(A) Maintenance or improvement of the phased state of a cell culture by growing the cells at a predetermined growth rate in an amount of nutrient medium which is sufficient only for the cells to complete their growth cycle at said growth rate, and at the time of reproduction or duplication of the cells, adding to at least part of the cell culture further nutrient medium in such an amount that just sufficient nutrient is present for the cells in the culture to complete their cycle. (B) Apparatus for carrying out the above procedure in a continuous manner, comprising a cultivating vessel with means for maintaining a homogeneous state and a predetermined temp., a dosage vessel with a device for supplying constant volumes of nutrient medium to the cultivating vessel at predetermined time intervals, and a collecting vessel; the cultivating vessel being provided with an outlet device for transferring predetermined volumes of cell culture from the cultivation vessel into the collecting vessel immediately before or after the addition of nutrient medium from the dosing vessel. Phased cell culture (i.e culture in which at least most, usually at least 70-80%, of the cells are at the same stage of the growth cycle) of e.g. microorganisms such as bacteria, yeasts (esp. Candida utilis) or fungi and cells of higher organisms such as plant or animal cells. Useful in the prodn. of chemical and biochemical substances, e.g enzymes, amino acids and nucleotides. The procedure can also be utilised in investigations of the metabolism of cell system.