With the rapid development of the biopharmaceutical industry, perfusion cell culture has become an indispensable technology for achieving high cell density and high target product titer in a smaller bioreactor volume. As a key component in perfusion culture systems, the cell retention plate directly determines the stability of the culture process, cell retention efficiency, and final product quality. This article will delve into the core value, technical characteristics, experimental verification, and application scenarios of the cell retention plate, helping you understand how this critical component optimizes perfusion cell culture workflows and drives technological progress in biopharmaceutical production.
The Urgent Need for High-Performance Cell Retention Plates in Perfusion Culture
Perfusion cell culture is widely used in the expansion of engineering cells (such as CHO, HEK 293 cells) and the production of biological products (including therapeutic proteins, viral vectors, and mRNA vaccines) due to its ability to continuously refresh the culture medium while retaining viable cells. However, high-density cell culture brings enormous challenges to the filtration components of perfusion systems, and the performance of cell retention plates has become a bottleneck restricting the efficiency of perfusion culture:
Clogging Risk: When cell density increases, the filtration components must maintain the smooth operation of the perfusion process without being clogged by high-concentration cell suspensions.
Cell Penetration: Cultured cells and microorganisms are structurally soft and easily penetrate the filtration medium under low-pressure driving, leading to cell loss and reduced culture efficiency.
Mechanical Reliability: In wave bioreactors (Wave Bioreactor®), the cell retention plate moves continuously with the reactor during long-term culture, requiring excellent mechanical strength to avoid damage and failure.
Therefore, a high-quality cell retention plate must meet the core requirements of high capacity, long service life, high retention efficiency, and high mechanical reliability, providing stable support for high-density perfusion cell culture.
Technical Characteristics of High-Performance Cell Retention Plates
Based on years of experience in the filtration, separation, and purification industry, our Cellgard cell retention plate adopts advanced deep filtration technology and optimized structural design to effectively solve the pain points of perfusion culture. Its core technical characteristics are as follows:
1. Advanced Material and Manufacturing Process
The cell retention plate is made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) powder through a sintering process, forming a high-quality deep filtration medium. This material has excellent chemical stability and biocompatibility, does not react with the culture medium or cells, and ensures the safety and purity of biological products. The sintering process creates a uniform and interconnected pore structure, laying a foundation for high retention efficiency and low flow resistance.
2. Optimized Pore Size and Structural Design
Targeting the needs of engineering cell expansion in the biopharmaceutical industry, the pore size of the cell retention plate is precisely designed to 7μm, which can efficiently retain CHO DG44, CHO K1, HEK 293, and other common engineering cells while allowing the smooth passage of nutrients and target products. In terms of size, it provides two standard specifications: 17×17cm and 50×30cm, with a thickness of 3mm, which can be perfectly matched with 2L, 50L, and other volume perfusion bioreactor bags to meet the needs of different scale culture experiments and production.
3. Excellent Mechanical Strength
The cell retention plate has a puncture strength of up to 300N/mm, which greatly improves its mechanical reliability during long-term culture. Even in the dynamic environment of wave bioreactors, it can maintain structural integrity, avoid damage caused by continuous movement, and ensure the stability of the perfusion culture process.
4. High Compatibility and Versatility
The product is compatible with various common perfusion bioreactors (especially wave bioreactors) and culture systems, and can be seamlessly integrated into existing cell culture workflows without the need for major equipment modifications. It is suitable for both small-scale R&D experiments and large-scale production, covering a variety of application scenarios such as cell expansion, target protein expression, and viral vector harvesting.
Experimental Verification: Proven High Performance in Practical Applications
To fully verify the performance of the cell retention plate, we conducted two sets of strict perfusion cell culture evaluation experiments, comparing it with microfiltration membranes and competing cell retention plates. The experimental results fully demonstrate its superior performance:
Experiment 1: 2L Scale Cell Culture Test
The 17×17cm cell retention plate was assembled into a 2L perfusion bioreactor bag, and CHO K1 cells were used for culture experiments. The experiment was stopped when cell leakage, plate clogging, or cell viability dropping below 90% occurred.
Results: During the 8-day culture period, the cell concentration in the reactor bag equipped with our cell retention plate successfully proliferated to nearly 120 M/ml. From Day 7 to Day 8, the transmembrane pressure (TMP) slightly increased and the cell viability slightly decreased, but no cell leakage was found in the harvest fluid downstream of the plate. Compared with the parallel control group, there was no significant difference in cell viability during the same period.
Contrast: The reactor bag loaded with a 1μm nominal pore size microfiltration membrane had severe clogging on Day 5, accompanied by about 30% cell leakage; the reactor bag loaded with a competing cell retention plate had cell leakage on Day 3, and the leakage rate exceeded 30% by Day 5.
Experiment 2: 50L Scale Cell Culture Test
The 50×30cm cell retention plate was used in a 50L perfusion bioreactor bag to culture CHO cells expressing proteins. The preset goal was to culture the cells to a density of 70 M/ml and maintain it for more than 5 days, while observing protein expression and harvest rate.
Results: The initial cell seeding density was 0.3 M/ml, and the cells entered the logarithmic growth phase after 3 days, reaching a maximum cell density of 84.7 M/ml on Day 10. After adjusting perfusion rate, oxygen supply, and other parameters, the culture density was stably maintained above 70 M/ml with high cell viability. At the same time, protein expression reached the peak period, and the protein harvest rate was nearly 100% (no significant difference in protein concentration between the upstream and downstream of the cell retention plate). The perfusion culture was carried out until Day 18, and live cell penetration was detected downstream of the plate, which was mainly caused by cell deformation driven by increased transmembrane pressure. It is recommended to monitor TMP during actual culture and adjust the process accordingly.
The two sets of experiments fully prove that the cell retention plate can achieve the goals of high cell culture density, high retention rate, and long service life in different scale and process conditions, and the culture effect meets the expected requirements, providing reliable support for high-density perfusion cell culture.
Application Scenarios of Cell Retention Plates
With its excellent performance, the cell retention plate has been widely used in the biopharmaceutical industry and scientific research fields, mainly covering the following scenarios:
1. Biopharmaceutical Production
It is used in the large-scale expansion of engineering cells and the production of biological products, such as therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, viral vectors, and mRNA vaccines. By improving cell density and target product titer, it helps enterprises reduce production costs, shorten the production cycle, and improve production efficiency.
2. Scientific Research Experiments
It is suitable for cell biology research in universities, research institutes, and other institutions, such as high-density cell culture, cell metabolism research, and single-cell analysis. It can provide a stable culture environment for research work and improve the accuracy and reproducibility of experimental results.
3. Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Research
In the expansion process of human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) and other stem cells, the cell retention plate can effectively retain stem cells, maintain their viability and differentiation potential, and provide technical support for stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine research.
Why Choose Our Cell Retention Plate?
In the fiercely competitive biopharmaceutical equipment market, our cell retention plate stands out with its obvious advantages, bringing real value to customers:
High Retention Efficiency: Precisely designed pore size and deep filtration mechanism ensure efficient cell retention, reducing cell loss and improving culture efficiency.
Long Service Life: Advanced material and manufacturing process effectively avoid clogging and damage, extending the service life of the product and reducing the cost of consumables.
Stable Performance: Excellent mechanical strength and chemical stability ensure the stability of the perfusion culture process, reducing the risk of experiment and production failure.
High Product Yield: It allows the smooth passage of target products, achieving a protein harvest rate of nearly 100%, which is superior to traditional microfiltration and ultrafiltration membrane technologies.
Professional Customization: According to the specific needs of customers, we provide customized services for pore size, size, and other parameters to meet the personalized needs of different application scenarios.
Conclusion
As the core component of perfusion cell culture systems, the cell retention plate plays a decisive role in improving cell culture density, ensuring product quality, and optimizing production efficiency. Our cell retention plate, with its advanced technology, excellent performance, and rich application experience, has been fully verified in practical experiments and has become a reliable partner for biopharmaceutical enterprises, research institutes, and other institutions in high-density perfusion cell culture.
Whether you are engaged in small-scale R&D experiments or large-scale production, we can provide you with high-quality cell retention plate products and professional technical support. Contact us today to learn more about product details and customized solutions, and work together to promote the development of the biopharmaceutical industry!
