Effect of low serum concentrations (0%-2.5%) on growth, production, and shear sensitivity of hybridoma cells.

In a stirred culture of hybridoma cells, the effects of serum reduction from 2.5% to 0% on growth and monoclonal antibody production have been investigated. The shear sensitivity of cells from the same culture has been tested in a bubble column. Serum reduction does not greatly affect viable-cell concentrations, but cell specific monoclonal-antibody production rate shows a decreasing trend. A gradual increase in sensitivity for sparging, which is nor the result of a long-term biological effect, has been measured in a bubble column at decreasing fetal calf serum concentrations. Finally, the hypothetical killing-volume model describing the death rate of insect cells in bubble columns has now been completely validated for the pertinent hybridoma-cell line.