Animal Cell Culture
Class 12 · Biotechnology
4 ideas in Class 12 Biotechnology, explained in plain words, with games and quizzes to practise.
Feeding Animal Cells
Part of: Feeding and Housing Animal Cells
Animal cells are picky eaters kept outside the body in warm buffered food. Natural meals use body fluids, while built meals mix salts, sugars, vitamins and often serum, the golden liquid left after clotting. Built meals split into serum-full, serum-free, exact-recipe and protein-free kinds for cleaner or cheaper runs.
Why it matters. Wrong food stalls or alters cells, ruining tests and products. Knowing meal kinds and serum trade-offs helps you feed each cell line correctly.
Key words
- natural medium
- : A meal made from body fluids like plasma or extracts.
- synthetic medium
- : A meal mixed from defined nutrients and salts.
- serum
- : The golden fluid left after clotting, rich in growth factors.
- chemically defined
- : A meal with every ingredient exactly known.
- protein-free medium
- : A built meal holding no added protein.
Try it in two minutes
- Contrast natural body-fluid meals with built recipe meals.
- List what serum brings: food, attachment and transport factors.
- Ask what serum risks: unknown mix, batch shifts and contamination.
Try at home. Sort three sample recipes into natural or built, with serum or not.
Housing Animal Cells
Part of: Feeding and Housing Animal Cells
Animal cells demand body-like homes: steady warmth near body heat, balanced acidity held by a bicarbonate and air partnership, humid clean air, and germ-free handling in special cabinets. Skilled eyes also check shapes under microscopes daily.
Why it matters. Small drifts stall growth or invite germs that beat slow animal cells. Knowing each control helps you rescue a failing flask before it is lost.
Key words
- incubator
- : A chamber holding warmth, humidity and air mix steady.
- bicarbonate buffer
- : A salt system that steadies acidity with air.
- pH
- : A scale telling how acidic or basic the fluid is.
- laminar cabinet
- : A germ-free work bench with clean airflow.
- contamination
- : Unwanted germs invading a culture.
Try it in two minutes
- Set the three dials: warmth, acidity, air mix.
- Ask how bicarbonate plus air holds acidity steady.
- Ask why germ-free cabinets matter more for slow cells.
Try at home. Check three home dials on any kept culture and note each reading.
Culture Types and Cell Lines
Part of: Growing and Using Cultures
Fresh tissue started in dishes gives primary cultures, growing stuck flat or floating free. Moving parts to fresh food, called passing, extends life into cell lines. Normal lines tire after limited rounds, while altered endless lines divide forever, trading convenience for changed traits.
Why it matters. Choosing the right stage decides how natural the cells stay versus how long they last. Knowing passing, flat versus free growth, and limited versus endless lines guides every experiment plan.
Key words
- primary culture
- : First growth started straight from fresh tissue.
- passaging
- : Moving cells to fresh vessels to extend life.
- cell line
- : A population carried on through many moves.
- finite line
- : A line that stops dividing after limited rounds.
- continuous line
- : An altered line dividing without limit.
Try it in two minutes
- Order the path: fresh tissue, first growth, moved lines.
- Ask what passing does: fresh food and room extend life.
- Ask what endless lines trade: convenience for altered traits.
Try at home. Trace one tissue sample from dish to moved line in four steps.
Checking and Using Cultures
Part of: Growing and Using Cultures
Live counts steer every culture decision. Dye tests mark dead cells since living walls bar the colour, while metabolism tests read living chemistry through colour change. Healthy checked cultures then serve gene studies, medicine testing, vaccine growing, farm-style protein harvests and defence-protein factories.
Why it matters. Wrong counts mistime moves and doses, and blind cultures waste effort. Knowing check methods plus real uses turns dishes into reliable tools.
Key words
- viability
- : The share of living cells in a culture.
- dye exclusion
- : A test where live walls bar colouring dye.
- MTT assay
- : A metabolism test read through colour change.
- hybridoma
- : A fused cell line making one defence protein.
- molecular pharming
- : Harvesting proteins from engineered animals.
Try it in two minutes
- Ask how dye tests work: barred colour means alive.
- Ask how metabolism tests work: living chemistry changes colour.
- List uses: gene study, medicine tests, vaccines, harvests, factories.
Try at home. Test one sample both ways and compare the live shares.
What your child will practise
- Checking and Using Cultures: Jungle Quick Fire (Quick Fire)
- Culture Types and Cell Lines: Candy Puzzle (Clue Puzzle)
- Culture Types and Cell Lines: Candy Quick Fire (Quick Fire)
- Feeding Animal Cells: Desert Quick Fire (Quick Fire)
- Housing Animal Cells: Space Puzzle (Clue Puzzle)
- Quiz: Checking and Using Cultures (8 questions)
- Quiz: Culture Types and Cell Lines (8 questions)
- Quiz: Feeding Animal Cells (8 questions)
- Quiz: Housing Animal Cells (8 questions)