Cell culture plates play a pivotal role in biomedical research, providing a controlled environment for the growth and study of cells in vitro. With a plethora of options available on the market, selecting the appropriate cell culture dish for your experiment can be a daunting task. Factors such as material composition, surface treatment, dish geometry, and application-specific requirements all significantly impact cell behavior and experimental outcomes. In this comprehensive guide, we will provide all the details to help you make an informed decision when dealing with this equipment.
While some cell types do not require cell culture plates and can thrive in liquid suspension, others, known as adherent cells, require a surface on which to cling. Most cells collected from solid tissues are adherent and require cell culture dishes for growth and observation.
What is cell culture?
The process of cell culture involves removing cells from an organism and putting them in a fluid medium under carefully monitored circumstances. The cells can survive and even proliferate under the right circumstances. This growth can occur through processes like differentiation, in which cells change into specific types with functional properties akin to those of organs or tissues in the original whole organism, or it can occur through mitosis or cell division.
A growing medium is needed to culture cells, depending on the type of cell being grown. This medium is maintained in a particular kind of vessel in order to provide the cells with a variety of vital nutrients. These can include growth factors, hormones, amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide.
The physiochemical environment, which includes temperature, osmotic pressure, and a pH regulator or buffer, is also regulated by the medium. Some cells can grow freely floating in a culture medium, but most require a substrate to develop on. These days, the term “cell culture” mainly refers to the process of cultivating multicellular eukaryotic cells, especially animal cells. Eukaryotic cells have a membrane-enclosed nucleus. Fungal culture, microbiological culture, viral culture, and tissue culture are further forms of culture that also entail cell growth.
Uses of cell culture plates
In a biology lab, cell culture dishes are similar to a home for cells. These are disposable, multi-well dishes that give scientists a controlled environment in which to cultivate and research different kinds of cells. Take a deeper look at their applications here:
- Development and Upkeep of Cells: These plates are essential resources for growing diverse cell types, enabling scientists to watch their behavior, growth patterns, and reactions to numerous stimuli in carefully regulated environments. Understanding basic biological processes at the cellular level depends on this.
- Drug Development and Discovery: Cell culture plates are essential for the search for new drugs. By monitoring their impact on grown cells, scientists can utilize them to evaluate possible medications and find promising candidates for additional research.
- Testing for Toxicity: To evaluate the possible harmful effects of substances, medications, or environmental factors, cell cultures are employed. Scientists can assess possible risks by subjecting grown cells to varying amounts of test material and tracking their survival.
- Tissue Engineering: Research on tissue engineering also makes use of these plates. Applications in regenerative medicine may soon be possible thanks to scientists’ ability to cultivate particular cell types and build 3D structures that resemble real
Common types of cell culture dishes
Now that we’ve discussed the common uses of cell culture dishes, let’s dive into their common types to deeply understand them.
- Plates for Cultured Tissue: The most popular kind, with 96, 48, or 24 wells in different configurations (round-bottom for cell suspension cultures, flat-bottom for adherent cells, and V-bottom for cell pelleting).
- Little plates: In high-throughput screening applications, where numerous samples must be evaluated concurrently, smaller well plates are frequently utilized.
- Chambers and slides: They provide real-time cell visualization under a microscope during microscopy investigations or following staining treatments.
- Plates with Specialty: There are plates designed for particular research that include features like ultra-low attachment surfaces for studying cells that don’t grow well on standard surfaces or transwell inserts that allow co-culture experiments (growing multiple cell kinds together).
Advantages of Cultured Cell Dishes
Numerous benefits make cell culture dishes indispensable instruments for scientists researching cells under carefully monitored conditions. The following are some of the main advantages:
- Flexibility and expandability
Numerous types of cell culture plates are available, such as Petri dishes, specialized cultureware, and multi-well plates with 6, 12, 24, 96, or 384 wells. This allows scientists to choose the plate that best suits their needs, be they for large-scale cell cultures or small-scale tests.
The large range of allowable numbers makes it simple for researchers to scale their experiments according to their demands. For pilot studies, they can start with smaller well plates and work their way up to larger plates for large-scale assays or cell multiplication.
- Environment Control and Surveillance
Researchers can provide their cells with a defined and regulated environment with the use of cell culture plates. For ideal cell growth and function, they can regulate gas exchange, medium composition, and cell density.
Through the use of a microscope, researchers may observe the shape, growth patterns, and confluence (the proportion of the surface covered by cells) of cells on transparent cell culture plates. This makes it possible to watch cell activities in real time.
- Standardization and reproducibility
The uniform format of multi-well plates allows for identical seeding densities, medium volumes, and treatment administrations throughout all wells. This encourages standardization and enables the reproducibility of experiments. Standardization and controlled settings on plates promote consistent cell culture outcomes, allowing researchers to draw valid conclusions from their experiments.
Conclusion
Cell culture plates are indispensable tools for cultivating and studying cells in controlled environments. Their versatility caters to diverse research needs, from basic cell maintenance to drug discovery and tissue engineering. By considering factors like material composition and dish design, researchers can optimize conditions for reliable results. As technology advances, cell culture dishes will continue to play a vital role in scientific discovery, facilitating progress in areas such as regenerative medicine and disease modeling.
