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What are the differences between adherent cell culture and suspension cell culture?
Posted March 20, 2023
Answer
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 |
Applications | Used for harvesting products continuously, cytology, and many different research applications | Used for batch harvesting, bulk protein production, and a wide range of research applications |