A new type porous carrier and its application to culture of suspension cells.

A new type porous carrier was fabricated from a mixture of sodium alginate, bovine serum albumin and sodium bicarbonate. The porous space of the carrier is an assembly of void spaces. The carrier was successfully applied to the cultivation of suspension animal cells. In the culture, while both cells and carriers were held in suspension, the cells were entrapped hydrodynamically into the void spaces in the carriers. A culture of hybridoma cells using this carrier resulted in a cell density up to 5.7 x 10(7) cells per ml-carrier.