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AAT Bioquest

What are the types of cell culture?

Posted December 15, 2020


Answer

The main types of cell culture include primary cell culture and cell lines (e.g. finite cell lines and continuous cell lines).

  • A primary cell culture refers to cells that have been taken directly from the tissue of interest, and then placed in an artificial environment supported with essential nutrients and growth factors to facilitate proliferation. These cells closely resemble the tissue of origin and have not been passaged.
  • A cell line or secondary cell culture is a primary culture that has been sub-cultured or passaged. When a primary culture reaches confluency it must be removed from its current medium and transferred to a fresh growth medium. This ensures that the cells stay at an optimal density for continued growth and proliferation. Cell lines typically undergo several passages. Cells in culture that divide only a finite number of times before entering senescence are referred to as finite cell lines. Cells that can propagate indefinitely are considered to be immortalized or continuous cell lines. Immortalized cell lines can occur naturally through random mutation or can be introduced via genetic modifications. Cell lines can be finite or continuous. An immortalized or continuous cell line has acquired the ability to proliferate indefinitely, either through genetic mutations or artificial modifications. A finite cell line has been sub-cultured for 20-80 passages after which they senesce.
Additional resources

Cell lines: Valuable tools or useless artifacts

Di-4-ANEPPS *CAS#: 90134-00-2*