DEVELOPMENT OF POLYSTYRENE MICROCARRIERS WITH NOVEL SURFACE CHEMISTRY

WE HAVE USED RADIO-FREQUENCY, NON-EQUILIBRIUM PLASMA REACTIONS TO CHEMICALLY MODIFY THE SURFACE OF TISSUE CULTURE PLATES, AND FOUND THAT OUR MODIFICATIONS CAUSE SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED GROWTH OF A VARIETY OF CELLS IN MONOLAYER CULTURE IN A VERY LIMITED RESEARCH PROGRAM. WE PROPOSE HERE TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT WE CAN PERFORM AN ANALOGOUS MODIFICATION ON MICROCARRIER BEADS AND ACHIEVE THESAME IMPROVEMENT IN CELL GROWTH ON THEM. THIS WOULD BE THE FIRST STEP TOWARD DEVELOPMENT OF A VARIETY OF SURFACE MODIFIED TISSUE CULTURE SUBSTRATA WHICH WOULD SUPPORT GROWTH OF CELLS OTHERWISE IMPOSSIBLE TO GROW IN VITRO, AND WHICH WOULD IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF LARGE SCALE ANCHORAGE DEPENDENT CELL CULTURE. IN PERFORMING THIS RESEARCH, WE SEEK A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE SURFACE CHEMISTRY FACTORSWHICH EFFECT THE ADHESION OF CELLS TO ARTIFICAL SUBSTRATA.