Tissue Culture Guide

Tissue culture is the process of propagating tissue from human, animal or plant cells in a culture medium. Tissue culture technique is the most convenient way of examining cell behavior so far. A small fragment of tissue (a cell, a population of cells, or a part or complete organ) is sustained in a complex biological (tissue extract) or synthetic nutrient medium with appropriate temperature and pH for the cells being developed. The process has multiple applications in visualizing normal and abnormal cell structure, genetic and biochemical reactions, aging and healing processes, metabolism and radiation biology.

History

• Tissue culture is quite a recent development in modern science. It was only in 1907, when American zoologist Dr. Ross G. Harrison presented a whole new concept of developing cells or tissues of higher plants and animals in a humanly contrived environment. He used a frog nerve cell in his demonstration. After that, others carried out a number of experiments in growing animal cells in special preparations that used blood plasma, blood serum, tissue extracts and lymph.

Culture Medium

• A tiny sample of tissue is grown in a culture medium in which cells are attached to a solid substrate such as glass or plastic wrap. The culture medium can be biological or synthetic in origin, or a mix of the two. The culture medium should also be rich in nutrients for the cells to be incubated. Cells in tissue culture are cultivated in an atmosphere of 15 to 20 percent carbon dioxide, beause the culture medium is buffered by sodium carbonate or carbonic acid in order to maintain its pH in a balanced condition. Sterility must also be maintained to prevent fungus and viral infections.

Observation

• Cultured cells can be viewed with electronic microscopes. They can also be photographed. Followed by experimentation, cells are either destroyed or preserved in liquid nitrogen for future use.

Applications

• Tissue cultures are of immense importance in biological and medical sciences. In plant science, tissue culture allows controls over the desirable qualities of plants such as pollen in order to give birth to new varieties of plants and protoplast cultures that expedite the process of producing hybrid plants. In medical science, tissue culture is used to differentiate between normal and abnormal cells such as cancer cells. Recently, tissue culture technique has found applications in identifying infections, classifying brain tumors, and drug testing.