Tissue Culture Methods

Tissue cultures are often done to help medical professionals determine the bacteria or virus that may be making a person sick. These tissue cultures are then allowed to grow and provide a large sample for the medical professionals to evaluate and determine a treatment. The tissues may also be used in medical studies and help biologists determine treatments and the evolution of bacteria or viruses. Tissue culture harvest methods are used to collect viable cells and tissues in the safest and least painful and intrusive method possible.

Biopsy

• Tissue cultures may be obtained through biopsies. These methods may involve suction, forceps or needle extractions. Biopsies include the removal of a piece of tissue from the body. These tissues tend to be fairly small, but provide a lot of cells for testing or observation. This is the most common method of tissue culture extraction used in medicine and science. This method can be painful and may be done in a surgical suit. This is an invasive method of tissue collection.

Swabs

• Tissue culture collection methods can include the use of swabs. These swabs can be used to determine the bacteria and viruses living on a person. The swab process includes using a wooden dowel or cotton swab and wiping it along the section of the body being tested. This removes the cells mechanically and deposits them onto the collection surface. This surface is then placed into a suspension solution, preserving the cells. This is a non-painful method of collection and limits invasive techniques.

Blood Tests

• Blood testing is the most common type of tissue collection done for human tissue culture collection. This is done through the use of a hollow needle being inserted into the vein of a person and a vacuum tube being attached to the needle. This draws the blood into the vial and allows for a sterile collection of blood samples. These samples can then be analyzed for various conditions and provide a medical professional with a large amount of information regarding the health of the person.

Culture Movement

• Biologists and medical professionals often need to move a tissue culture sample from one container to another or to a microscope slide for observation. This can be done through the use of a rubber spatula, scrapping the tissue off the initial container. This method is not conducive to the survival of those tissues, but does allow for a large test field and various different cells for observation. This is most often used for observing the types of cells in a test field. Proteolytic enzymes can be used to remove the cells chemically from a growth medium. This can damage the cells by stripping them of outside proteins, but is generally less harmful than the scrapping method. Pure EDTA can be used to buffer and remove the cells for collection. This method is the least harmful to the cells and can be used if the cells are going to be used for further cell growth or testing.

Tissue Culture Growth

• The growing of tissue cultures are done in an incubator. This incubator controls the humidity levels and the temperature as well as the gas content. Tissue samples are grown in incubators that consist of a 5 to 10 percent carbon dioxide mixture. These samples should not be removed from the incubator except for feeding and testing. The cells are fed a mixture of simple carbohydrates and proteins depending upon the type of the cells being grown.