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Difference Between Adherent Cell Culture and Suspension Cell Culture
| Basis Of Differentiation ▲ ▼ | Adherent cell culture ▲ ▼ | Suspension cell culture ▲ ▼ |
| Definition | Refers to cells that are grown in a single layer attached to a solid surface, such as a petri dish or flask supplemented with a culture medium | Refers to cells that are grown free-floating or suspended in a liquid medium either as single cells or as free-floating clusters |
| Suitability | Suitable for most cell types, including primary cultures | Suitable only for non-adhesive cell lines and for cells adapted to suspension culture |
| Special requirement | Requires a tissue culture treated vessel | Does not require a tissue culture treated vessel |
| Agitation | Does not require agitation during growth | Requires agitation during growth for adequate gas exchange |
| Anchorage dependency | Is anchorage dependent | Is anchorage independent |
| Trypsinization | Is present | Is absent |
| Dissociation | Cells can be dissociated enzymatically or mechanically | Cells do not require enzymatic or mechanical dissociation |
| Growth limitations | Growth is limited by surface area, which may limit product yields | Growth is limited by cell density in the medium |
| Passaging requirement | Requires periodic passaging, but allows easy visual inspection under inverted microscope | Easier to passage, but requires daily cell counts and viability determination in order to follow growth patterns |
| Yield | Low-yielding | High-yielding |
References
This online tool may be cited as follows
MLA | "Quest Database™ Difference Between Adherent Cell Culture and Suspension Cell Culture." AAT Bioquest, Inc., 26 Aug. 2025, https://www.aatbio.com/data-sets/difference-between-adherent-cell-culture-and-suspension-cell-culture. | |
APA | AAT Bioquest, Inc. (2025, August 26). Quest Database™ Difference Between Adherent Cell Culture and Suspension Cell Culture. AAT Bioquest. https://www.aatbio.com/data-sets/difference-between-adherent-cell-culture-and-suspension-cell-culture. | |
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