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Novel bioreactors for the culture and expansion of aggregative neural stem cells

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Abstract

Neural stem cells have been cultured as three-dimensional aggregates in a number of different types of bioreactors. The design and configuration of the bioreactor are shown to be crucial factors for the successful propagation of the cells. A novel bioreactor with liquid re-circulation and a working volume of 200 ml has been designed, tested and shown to be able to produce a higher cell vitality compared to those produced in multi-well plates, shake flasks and stirred flasks. The novel reactor was able to produce a total density of cells of 3.5 × 106 cells/ml consisting of a larger number of smaller and proliferative aggregates, compared to only 1.8 × 106 cells/ml produced in a multi-well plate. Shake flasks and stirred flasks commonly used for facilitating mass transfer in the culture of micro-organisms are shown to be unsuitable for the propagation of neural stem cells.

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Acknowledgement

The neural stem cell cultures are gifts from Dr. M. A. Caldwell of the Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair and Professor C. ffrench-Constant of the Department of Pathology. Y. L. Ng is thankful for the financial support from the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust.

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  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3RA, UK

    Yuen Ling Ng & Howard A. Chase

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  1. Yuen Ling Ng
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  2. Howard A. Chase
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Correspondence to Howard A. Chase.

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Ng, Y.L., Chase, H.A. Novel bioreactors for the culture and expansion of aggregative neural stem cells. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 31, 393–400 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-007-0174-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-007-0174-4

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