The two main areas of research and development that are driving the global technological revolution are information technology and biotechnology. Together, these breakthroughs have allowed researchers to investigate the tiniest components of the human body in order to fully comprehend its structure.
The cell culture media supplements are one example of the advanced biotechnology solutions revolutionizing cell culture technology.
Cell culture is a technique for keeping and growing multicellular animals’ cells in controlled environments outside their natural habitat. The process frequently requires isolating or removing cells from living tissue, followed by their growth in a favorable artificial environment.
Normal biological functions, including mitosis (cell division), differentiation, and regeneration, are used to describe how the cells grow.
To maintain the growth of the cells, cell culture is typically conducted in a suitable vessel that contains a substrate or medium filled with vital nutrients that include amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals, growth factors, hormones, and essential gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2).
How does cell culture work?
Cell culture is the process of growing cells under controlled conditions. Once the cells are isolated from living tissue, they can be maintained under carefully regulated conditions.
These conditions vary for each cell type but generally consist of a suitable vessel containing a medium that supplies essential nutrients and modulates the physicochemical environment, i.e., pH buffers, osmotic pressure, and temperature.
Most cells require a surface or artificial substrate to form adherent cultures as monolayers, but some cells can grow as suspension cultures in suspension media. Although the lifespan of most cells is genetically determined, some cell culture cells have been “transformed” into immortal cells that reproduce indefinitely under optimal conditions.
What are cell culture media supplements?
The cell culture media supplements are used to enhance mammalian cell growth and viability under conditions with no or little serum present.
Supplements can help cell lines and cultures develop more quickly. They also help to maintain a healthy culture, improve cell viability, and modify the cell culture to meet the requirements of a person. In the past, animal serum, which included all the organic components required for cell growth, was used to make supplements.
The lack of uniformity in the nutrients in the media and the pathogen contamination of cell culture are two additional effects of these animal-derived media that result in inconsistent cell culture development.
As a result, the production of biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, and stem cells increasingly use defined additives such as recombinant protein supplements. Growth media supplements known as recombinant cell culture supplements are necessary for a cell to divide or expand healthily.
For instance, mammalian cells require extra nutrients in addition to the basal media during the cell culture procedure. These supplements, composed of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and amino acids (such as L-glutamine), provide sufficient nutrients.
Currently, cell culture has become a crucial process in the field of biotechnology and modern life sciences. Since the use of cell cultures has increased in the present scenario, the market offers great growth potential and presents a valuable opportunity.
According to the BIS Research analysis, the global recombinant cell culture supplements market was valued at $308.6 million in 2021 and is expected to reach $1,188.6 million by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 12.24% during the forecast period 2022-2032.
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Importance of Media and Supplements in the Cell Culture Process
In biotechnology, the term media refers to “the substance in which an organism lives or is cultured.” In contrast, supplements are the essential components that make a healthy medium for the cell culture process.
A healthy and efficient cell culture media is essential to ensure the required growth and multiplication of cells under ideal in vitro conditions. As a source of growth factors, hormones, and attachment factors, a cell culture medium is made of a variety of amino acids, vitamins, inorganic salts, glucose, and serum, among other things.
Additionally, many activities performed, such as instant survival, extended survival, unrestricted development, or other specific tasks, are considered when choosing the cell culture media. Therefore, choosing suitable media based on the type of cell is crucial.
On the other hand, the cell culture supplements offer a suitable energy source and chemicals necessary for cell cycle regulation. Amino acids, vitamins, albumins, transport proteins, cytokines, hormones, antibiotics, and lipids are a few typical examples of cell culture supplements.
Defined supplements have supported the proliferation, productivity, and homogeneity of cultured cells in cell culture media for many years. The increasing demand for cell culture optimization initiatives has led to a paradigm shift toward the increased usage of defined, animal-free supplements to create biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, and stem cells.
Conclusion
With growing technological advancements and increasing investments in biotechnology research, various biopharmaceutical products are being developed using the cell culture technique. Laboratory cell culture also enables the study of cell physiology and biochemistry.
Furthermore, it has become easy to determine how drugs or other chemicals affect cultured cells because variables like culture media, environment, population density, and growth rate can all be controlled. It also enables the analysis of diverse genes’ functions and has huge potential for use in genetics.
With numerous applications and advantages of this technique, the recombinant cell culture supplements market is expected to grow significantly.
