A study on the development of Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) substitutes using microalgae in vaccine-production cell lines

Abstract

Cell culture is used in the manufacture of biological and cellular therapeutics such as vaccines, therapeutic proteins and antibodies. As the need for such cell culture increases, the utilization of fetal bovine serum (FBS) has increased. FBS is the most widely used serum-supplement for in vitro cell culture of animal cell lines. However, although the use of FBS is important, it recognizes ethical, economic and environmental issues. In this study, Arthrospira (Spirulina) maxima extract (denoted as SACCS, Spirulina Animal Cell Culture Solution) was applied to use for the cell culture medium as substitute for FBS. The preprocessing method of SACCS was established by the processes via S. maxima cell milking, extraction and filters system. Vaccine-producing cell lines, VERO (monkey kidney epithelial cells) and MDCK (Madin-Darby Canine Kidney cells) cells were used to confirm cell morphology, cell number, and cell viability. In addition, it was cultured using a percentage mixture of SACCS and FBS (S%:F%). VERO and MDCK cells showed the best results for growth and viability in mixtures of S50:F50 and S70:F30. As a result, it was confirmed that SACCS is basically applicable to vaccine-producing cell lines. In the future research, mass production of vaccines is required for effective virus vaccine production, and research on the development of safe and inexpensive cell culture medium technology will be conducted.