The Importance Of Mammalian Cell Culture In Medical Research

Abstract:

The value of cell culture in medical research can be seen through the diverse and innovative ways scientists have involved cell culture in their investigations. Cell Culture allows cells separated from animal tissues to be developed in a culture, which can be used as a device for research, such as cancer research, or for the study of viruses that can lead to the creation of vaccines. It can be developed into a variety of different and modernized model systems that can recreate an environment specific to that cell, thus providing a replacement to the widely used animal models. Drug and toxicity testing advancements have also benefitted from cell culture techniques, as well as artificial organs are made possible through the data gathered from animal cell culture experiments. It also has a vital role in current genetic engineering procedures from producing engineered proteins to aiding with genetic screening, showing its potential in future applications in new scientific advancements.

Introduction:

Mammalian cell culture incorporates isolating animal cells from tissues to grow in a dish, as it reproduces functional cell equivalents in an environment that is artificial and beneficial to that cell. Cell culture technique is commonly used by many and it provides a way for scientists to study the physiology and biology of the human cells without in-vivo experiments (Philippeos et al., 2011). This essay aims to see the significance of this practice through the various ways it is used by scientists for medical research.

Cell Culture Utilization:

Cell culture importance is shown through its use as a model system allowing the study of the biology of cells. Lynn et al. (2018) created an in-vitro culture model of the outer retina allowing users to acquire retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) monolayers that had the required physiology of the natural RPE tissue. The accuracy in cell culture model grants the study of RPE changes and its affects in blinding diseases (Lynn et al., 2018). Numerous animal models were designed to replicate the characteristics in human age-related macular degeneration resulting to vision loss, but none were fully able to reiterate it unlike cell cultures (Pennesi et al., 2012). This points to how cell culture can provide an alternative to animal models, as they may not accurately represent the conditions in the human eye.

Through cell culture, viruses can be studied by isolating or detecting them, moreover cell culture provides a more favourable and cheaper option compared to the use of animals (Hematian et al., 2016). Dill et al. (2019) uses cell cultures to create foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV), yet there is little information known about the culture medium components needed to cultivate a high virus production. They investigated the rising concentrations of various nutrients, such as glucose and cell densities to learn more about FMDV production in a small-scale bioreactor structure (Dill et al., 2019).

Cell culture is also crucial in producing vaccines to be used as an investigation tool for vaccine research. Babar et al. (2013) focuses on finding an alternative method for vaccine production by creating primary cell cultures with less use of embryonated chicken eggs. The research concluded that primary cell cultures can mirror the in vivo environment well and it demonstrated constant growth providing an ideal alternative for vaccine production (Babar et al., 2013). There is an ongoing problem with the use of eggs for rapid vaccine manufacture, therefore cell culture provides an alternative, with a faster and higher vaccine production (Audsley and Tannock, 2004).

A recent study has shown that 3D cell culture systems have proven to be helpful for radiopharmaceutical cancer research. Doctor et al. (2020) proposes that 3D models have features allowing users to comprehend the extracellular medium for tumour development, such as cell interactions and nutrient gradients involved in cell growth. These 3D culture systems can reiterate tumour cells and the habitat much better than monolayer systems, showing that cell culture designs can be continually improved (Doctor et al., 2020). This also points to how in-vitro tumour models and 3D culture can be used for cytotoxic assessment and testing of anticancer drugs (Godugu et al., 2013).

Cell culture is also important in finding drugs, as it tests the pharmacological effect of a drug, for example G-protein combined receptors were uncovered by cell culture (Ghanemi, 2015). In a research involving circulating tumour cells (CTC), Zhang et al. (2017) obtained cultures from a lung cancer patient’s blood, which helped to discover the ALK composition and aided with predicting the appropriate medicine for ALK inhibitors. This points to CTC cultures assistance with drug screening, highlighting cell culture importance in supporting with personalised medicine (Praharaj et al., 2018). In another study, Cui et al. (2007) combined a perfused microbioreactor and 3D cell culture to create an ecosystem suitable for the analysis of chemicals and drugs, which provided the cell culture flexibility in a structured environment. This also allows cell cultures to be used for drug assessment and toxicity testing, such as to research chronic toxicity (Cui et al., 2007).

Importance of cell culture can also be seen through modern genetic engineering, as it is used to establish new cell material. Broutier et al. (2016) have devised a culture system for adult stem cells to allow the enlargement of adult primary tissues into organoids. These organoids can facilitate genetic alteration allowing it to be used for the modification of genes for regenerative medicine, as it allows the engineering of stem cells in vitro (Broutier et al., 2016).

Continuing from genetic engineering, the production of many genetically engineered proteins such as hormones is aided by cell culture. Yoon et al. (2007) concludes that cell culture temperature was important to produce follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) generated from a Chinese hamster ovary cell. From the investigation of batch cultures placed in temperatures ranging from 26-37°, they were able to create the maximum 21 ug/ml of FSH at 28°. This shows how cell cultures are useful to investigate and create the optimum temperature to produce hormones at higher amounts (Yoon et al., 2007).

Cell culture can also be used to aid genetic screening, as Meola et al. (2009) uses cell cultures to obtain data for their study of hereditary muscle channelopathies. From the patients’ biopsies, muscle cell cultures were acquired for the analysis of the variation and replicative ability of the mutant myoblasts and RNA causing the disease. From the help of muscle biopsy and muscle cell cultures; it can allow for a more accurate identification of the disease-causing channel (Meola et al., 2009).

Cell culture can also aid research on artificial organs and tissues, as Sánchez-Romero et al. (2020) studied primary human proximal tubule cells (PHPT) for its use for renal replacement therapy and the creation of a bioartificial kidney. With the use of PHPT cell cultures (Figure 1), they concluded that PHPT cells provided the best for an in vitro model for further study of the kidney and can aid in renal recovering medicine administration (Sánchez-Romero et al., 2020).

Conclusion:

Overall, cell culture is an important technique used to receive knowledge and statistics to support investigations. It has contributed to medical research by model systems, cancer research, viral studies, vaccinations, drug and toxicity studies and has aided on enhancing genetic engineering procedures. Many of these studies shows that cell culture systems can provide a simpler or cheaper alternative and can be advanced further with 3D culture systems, which indicates that further applications of cell culture remain for exploration.