Abstract
Specific respiration rate ( \( Q_{{{\text{O}}_{2} }} \)) is a key parameter to understand cell metabolism and physiological state, providing useful information for process supervision and control. In this work, we cultivated different insect cells in a very controlled environment, being able to measure \( Q_{{{\text{O}}_{2} }} \). Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells have been used through virus infection as host for foreign protein expression and bioinsecticide production. Transfected Drosophila melanogaster (S2) cells can be used to produce different proteins. The objective of this work is to investigate respiratory activity and oxygen transfer during the growth of different insect cells lines as Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9), Drosophila melanogaster (S2) wild and transfected for the expression of GPV and EGFP. All experiments were performed in a well-controlled 1-L bioreactor, with SF900II serum free medium. Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells reached 10.7 × 106 cells/mL and maximum specific respiration rate (\( Q_{{{\text{O}}_{2} \max }} \)) of 7.3 × 10−17 molO2/cell s. Drosophila melanogaster (S2) cells achieved 51.2 × 106 cells/mL and \( Q_{{{\text{O}}_{2} \max }} \) of 3.1 × 10–18 molO2/cell s. S2AcGPV (expressing with rabies virus glycoprotein) reached 24.9 × 106 cells/mL and \( Q_{{{\text{O}}_{2} \max }} \) of 1.7 × 10–17 molO2/cell s, while S2MtEGFP (expressing green fluorescent protein) achieved 15.5 × 106 cells/mL and \( Q_{{{\text{O}}_{2} \max }} \) = 1.9 × 10−17 molO2/cell s. Relating to the Sf9, S2 cells reached higher maximum cell concentrations and lower specific respiration rate, which can be explained by its smaller size. These results presented useful information for scale-up and process control of insect cells.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by grants from FAPESP (02/09482-3) and CNPQ. The authors thank Marcos Lemos and Alexandra Santos for their collaboration.
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Pamboukian, M.M., Jorge, S.A.C., Santos, M.G. et al. Insect cells respiratory activity in bioreactor. Cytotechnology 57, 37–44 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-007-9118-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-007-9118-8