DIALYSIS BIOREACTOR WITH RADIAL-FLOW FIXED-BED FOR ANIMAL-CELL CULTURE

A new dialysis bioreactor with a radial-flow fixed bed was developed for animal cell cultivation. This bioreactor consists of two chambers which are separated by a cylindrical membrane. The inner chamber is equipped with a centrifugal pump and packed with porous glass spheres. Cell cultivation is carried out in this chamber, and radial flow of the medium is induced by the centrifugal pump. Aeration is done in the outer chamber, which also serves as a reservoir for the medium. When hybridoma cells were cultivated in this bioreactor for the production of monoclonal antibody against penicillin G amidase, 241 mg/l of antibody was obtained. Most of the cells were grown in the fixed bed, where the cell density increased to 9.6 x 10(6) cells/ml-fixed bed. Discussion of the culture conditions and the feasibility for scale-up is mainly based on the oxygen concentration profile in the fixed bed.