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AAT Bioquest

What are the applications of cell culture?

Posted March 13, 2023


Answer

Cell culture involves growing cells in vitro under controlled conditions outside of their natural environment. The consistency and reproducibility of results that can be achieved is the main advantage of cell culture. Cell culture has a wide range of applications in different fields: 

As a model system in cellular and molecular biology – Cell culture provides an excellent model system in cellular and molecular biology and is one of the major tools used to study basic cell biochemistry and physiology, effects of drugs, interaction between cell and disease-causing agents such as virus and bacteria, aging process and more.  

In cancer research – Researchers use immortal human cancer cell lines as models to study the cause of cancer, interactions between the immune system and cancer cells, carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, novel chemotherapeutic drug screening, and the effects of drugs and other toxic compounds on the cells. 

In drug screening and development Animal cell cultures are a valuable tool for studying the cytotoxicity of new drugs and determining their effective and safe dosage. They are widely used in the pharmaceutical industry for drug screening and the development and large scale manufacturing of biological compounds such as therapeutic proteins and vaccines among others. 

In virology and vaccine production – Animal cell culture can be used to detect, isolate, and replicate viruses for use in vaccine production for deadly diseases such as chicken pox, hepatitis B, polio, measles, and rabies among others. Researchers also use cell culture to study the growth and development cycle of viruses and their mode of infection.  

For toxicity testing – The effects of new drugs, chemicals, and cosmetics on the survival and growth of different types of cells as well as the maximum permissible dosage can be studied using cell culture. 

As replacement tissue or organ – The ability to use animal cell culture as replacement tissue or organs is a major breakthrough in cell culture applications. Currently, this is limited to using cultured cells to produce artificial skin for the treatment of burns and ulcers. Further research is ongoing into using cell culture for replacement kidney, liver, and pancreas. 

For genetic counseling – Karyotyping can be used to examine chromosomal and genetic aberrations using fetal cell culture extracted from pregnant women. These findings can help in the early detection of fetal abnormalities. 

In genetic engineering – Researchers can study the expression of new genes and its effect on cellular health by infecting the cell with new genetic material from cultured animal cells. This has several important applications including the production of commercially important genetically altered proteins such as insulin, hormones, monoclonal antibodies, and more. 

Additional resources

Application of cell culture technology and genetic engineering for production of future foods and crop improvement to strengthen food security

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