What is the importance of tissue culture?

Tissue culture is important due to its use in several different applications in biology. Plant and animal tissues can both be cultured and preserved for various types of analysis. One example is identifying cell composition and structure. Specifically their genetic, biochemical, and reproductive activity. Additionally, it allows researchers to study aging processes, the differences between regular and abnormal cells, and their effects on biological agents or chemicals. Since viruses are able to be grown in tissue culture, vaccines for diseases like influenza, polio, and measles have been produced. Furthermore, tissue culture has contributed to producing antiviral substances like interferon, as well as synthesizing hormones from cultured cells. Moreover, this method can extract and culture cells from a pregnant woman, making it possible to tell whether her fetus has chromosomal defects such as those correlated with Down syndrome.