ELECTROFUSION OF CELLS - HYBRIDOMA PRODUCTION BY ELECTROFUSION AND POLYETHYLENE-GLYCOL

A number of physical, chemical, and biological techniques are used to induce fusion between cells. The best known chemical technique employs polyethylene glycol (PEG). Viruses and viral proteins are commonly used as biological fusogens. Although these fusion methods are widely used in genetics and immunology studies, their molecular mechanisms are still not well understood. As a result, improvement of these methods is achieved mainly on an empirical basis. A physical method—namely, electrofusion, has been developed that rivals other fusion methods in efficiency. Electrofusion has several distinct advantages over other fusion methods in producing cell hybrids: (1) the physical nature of the method guarantees it to be free of chemical or biological contaminants, eliminating the necessity of repeated washing of cells after fusion, (2) the fusion parameters can be easily and accurately controlled by electronics, and (3) electrofusion can be widely applied because the dielectric properties of most cells are within a narrow range. © 1993, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.