Factors to consider in performing survival studies with insect cells

• Published in: In vitro cellular & developmental biology Vol. 23; no. 11; p. 733
• Main Author: Koval, T.M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.11.1987
• Subjects: Animals; BLOOD COMPOSITION; Blood Physiological Phenomena; Cattle; CELL CULTURE; Cell Division; Cells, Cultured - radiation effects; Colony-Forming Units Assay - methods; COMPOSICION DE LA SANGRE; COMPOSITION DU SANG; CULTIVO DE CELULAS; CULTURE DE CELLULES; CULTURE MEDIA; Culture Media - pharmacology; Diptera - cytology; INSECTE; INSECTOS; INSECTS; Lepidoptera - cytology; MEDIO DE CULTIVO; MILIEU DE CULTURE; SERUMS; SUPERVIVENCIA; SURVIE; SURVIVAL; TOXICIDAD; TOXICITE; TOXICITY; Ultraviolet Rays
• ISSN: 0883-8364; 2327-431X
• DOI: 10.1007/BF02623672

Insect cell lines are not well-suited to colony formation in liquid medium following low-density cell plating. The present studies demonstrate that the time of addition of fetal bovine serum to the culture medium and the number of gamma-irradiated feeder cells added to each plate are important factors in developing a useful colony formation assay. TN-368 lepidopteran and WR69-DM-1 dipteran cell lines were used for these experiments. Both cell types display increased plating efficiencies if serum is added to the medium one or more days prior to plating as compared to adding serum immediately before plating. Growth curves obtained by seeding cells at higher densities also indicate that cell growth is slightly better if serum is added one or more days before seeding. These findings are especially important for survival and toxicity studies because the results demonstrate that even seemingly minor factors involved in cell survival assays may benefit treated cells to a greater degree than untreated control cells, thus providing an erroneous assessment of cell survival.