CELL CULTURE PH CONTROL WITHOUT CO2 INCUBATOR

pH control in dynamic cell culture independent of a co2 incubator.

BE INDEPENDENT OF THE CO2 INCUBATOR

Control pH of the media on the bench

AUTOMATED CELL CULTURE

Less manual work and more accuracy for your experiments

PLUG-AND-PLAY PLATFORM

Beginner friendly pack with detailed user guide

pH control without a CO2 incubator for dynamic cell culture

Aware of the importance of pH control in dynamic cell cultures, this pH control without a CO₂ incubator pack was assembled to closely maintain cell culture pH in line and independently of the CO₂ incubator by maintaining the gas composition used to pressurise the reservoirs. Assemble your setup at the bench or on the microscope stage for better data gathering.

This pack for pH control without a CO₂ incubator is user-friendly, customizable, and automatable perfusion pack. You can add your desired gas composition, such as 5% CO2/95% air, through a pre-mixed bottle connected to the pump. The pump, in turn, will ensure this composition remains constant throughout your experiment. The Stage Top Incubator keeps the temperature, forgoing the need to use a CO2 incubator.

A typical pack contains:

Cell culture pump
Eppendorfs or falcon reservoirs
Microfluidic flow sensor (eg. Galileo)
Recirculation bridge
A microfluidic chip, if needed
Software (Galileo user interface)
User-friendly guides

This pack can also be combined with other microfluidic steps following the dynamic cell culture, such as drug sequential injection.

The importance of pH for cell culture

The homeostasis of pH is finely balanced in the body by a bicarbonate buffering system, creating a dynamic equilibrium between carbonic acid and carbonate, which, in turn, is regulated by the lungs and kidneys. The same buffering system is usually applied to cell cultures with a CO₂ incubator that keeps CO₂ at a predefined concentration.

Phenol red is the most common indicator of pH in cell culture media, and it is usually used as a visual cue of the culture’s development.

The microenvironment changes become more relevant when the cell culture is miniaturized to take advantage of the benefits of organ-on-a-chip technology. Even if slight variations in pH, e.g., 7.4±0.3, are tolerated in traditional cell culture, the pH changes faster in microfluidic cell culture due to the much higher cell volume to medium volume ratio, resulting in a more pronounced effect on cell viability. Thus, closer monitoring of crucial environmental parameters becomes more critical [1].

References

1. Lu, C. & Verbridge, S. S. Microfluidic methods for molecular biology. Microfluid. Methods Mol. Biol. 1–376 (2016). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-30019-1

Customize your pH control without incubator pack

This pack can be modified depending on your cell line (human, mammalian, plant, primary…) or your experiment conditions.

If you’re unsure about the instrument choices and settings best suited for your application, contact one of our experts!

Bubbles can be a problem for cells; the instrument pack can contain a bubble remover to tackle this issue efficiently.

Our experts can answer any questions about this pH control without an incubator pack and help you find out how it can match your specifications.

– Check our other Packs for various applications –

pH control without a CO2 incubator

Most researchers rely on Phenol Red to assess the pH of cell culture and cell experiments. However, the same shade of Phenol Red can represent an entire pH point, which can be problematic since the dimensions of most organ-on-chip devices make small pH changes that significantly affect cells.

Due to the bicarbonate buffering system commonly employed in cell culture media, the pH of the cell culture is also tightly linked to the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere. The graph below illustrates the significant pH change of DMEM when exposed to different atmospheric concentrations of CO₂.

This reliance on CO₂ renders most dynamic cell culture setups dependent on the CO₂ incubator, limiting the technology’s potential. For example, image gathering on a microscope requires unplugging the chip from the setup, which can cause contamination and air bubbles.

Live cell imaging is also limited as the device cannot remain outside ideal conditions, requiring specialized equipment. These limitations call for a way to culture cells dynamically independent of the CO₂ incubator.

Which gases can the cell culture pump use?

The cell culture pump can use any non-corrosive gas mixture.

Does the cell culture pump keep the gas sterile?

To guarantee the sterility of the used gases, we advise adding a small disposable filter at the gas inlet of the reservoir.

Do the reservoirs of media need to be kept at 37°C?

No, the reservoirs can be kept at room temperature. The Stage Top Incubator was designed to ensure that the media reaches the cells at the desired temperature regardless of the temperature of the reservoirs.