Carbohydrates-chitosan composite carrier for Vero cell culture.

In this study, carbohydrate-chitosan composite including glucose-chitosan, sucrose-chitosan and starch-chitosan with varied carbohydrate concentrations were prepared as carriers for Vero cell culture. Our results show that among these composites, 30 % starch-chitosan composite (STC) were the best carriers for the growth of Vero cells. The initial number of attached cells on the surface of composite carriers did not have any significant effect on subsequent cell production. A higher glucose level in the growth medium during the exponential phase of cell growth, however, played an important factor for cell production. Vero cells on the STC carriers were able to convert starch inside the composite carriers into glucose and further utilized the glucose for their growth. Moreover, by crosslink with serum the STC carriers supported an even better cell production in the normal medium without adding fetal bovine serum, as well as a good extracellular virus production. The STC composite is therefore a promising alternative carrier for Vero cell culture.

Production of bacterial cellulose membranes in a modified airlift bioreactor by Gluconacetobacter xylinus.

In this study, a novel bioreactor for producing bacterial cellulose (BC) is proposed. Traditional BC production uses static culture conditions and produces a gelatinous membrane. The potential for using various types of bioreactor, including a stirred tank, conventional airlift, and modified airlift with a rectangular wire-mesh draft tube, in large-scale production has been investigated. The BC obtained from these bioreactors is fibrous or in pellet form. Our proposed airlift bioreactor produces a membrane-type BC from Gluconacetobacter xylinus, the water-holding capacity of which is greater than that of cellulose types produced using static cultivation methods. The Young's modulus of the product can be manipulated by varying the number of net plates in the modified airlift bioreactor. The BC membrane produced using the proposed bioreactor exhibits potential for practical application.

Application of real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction to monitoring infection of classic swine fever virus and determining optimal harvest time in large-scale production.

Due to the non-cytopathogenic replication of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) in cell culture, large-scale production of CSFV using bioreactor system remains the problem of monitoring the time of maximum virus production for optimal harvest. In this study, we proposed the application of real-time quantitative PCR assay to monitoring the progress of CSFV infection and yield determination in large scale. The region of NS5B of CSFV responsible for CSFV genome replication was used for the designation of primers and probe. Viral titers determined by the real-time quantitative PCR assay were compared with the conventional cell-culture based method of immunofluorescent staining. Results from large scale production show that a similar profile of CSFV production was successfully outlined by real-time quantitative PCR and virus yields were comparable to the results from immunofluorescent staining assay. By using this method, an optimal harvesting time of the production could be rapidly and precisely determined leading to an improvement in virus harvest.

The feasibility of a novel bioreactor for vaccine production of classical swine fever virus.

The performance of a new type of tide mode culture system was investigated in this study. This novel bioreactor provides two separated stages, liquid and gas, for cell growth requirements. The immobilized cells absorbed the nutrient from medium during the liquid stage and subsequently were exposed directly to fresh air to absorb oxygen during the gas stage. Operating with PK15 cells under optimal conditions, we obtained 2.3×10(9) cells in 500ml reactor. It is 30 times higher than the initial inoculum and about 11 times higher than the production by roller bottle. For the vaccine production of classical swine fever (CSFV), a high virus titer of 2.1×10(9) median tissue culture infective dose (TCID(50)) was yielded which provided exceed 300 doses per milliliter of CSFV solution. Therefore, this new cultural system performed well not only for cell production but also for virus yield. It should be a highly efficient production for the CSFV vaccine and have practical potential in other animal cell culture vaccine.

Enterovirus 71 adsorption on metal ion-composite chitosan beads.

In this study, we developed composite chitosan beads combining various metal ions, including Ni(2+), Cu(2+), Zn(2+), and Fe(2+), for direct adsorption of enterovirus 71 (EV71). The metal-ion species had significant effects on the adsorption capacity of beads. Among these metal ion-composite chitosan beads, Ni(2+)-chitosan beads exhibited the best adsorption capacity of EV71. Using a concentration of 0.01-M Ni(2+) was found to best provide for bead formation and EV71 adsorption. The adsorption of EV71 for Ni(2+)-chitosan beads at neutral or alkaline pH was favored. Under a competitive condition with albumin proteins, Ni(2+)-chitosan beads exhibited significant capacity of EV71 adsorption in culture media. The adsorption of EV71 on the Ni(2+)-chitosan beads was attributed to the strong binding between Ni(2+) ions chelated to the surface amino acid of EV71 capsids and Ni(2+) ions chelated on the chitosan materials. Moreover, the adsorbed EV71 retained its antigenicity and infectivity after desorption. The Ni(2+)-chitosan beads exhibit a promising application to EV71 adsorption and removal.

Effects of ozone exposure on inactivation of intra- and extracellular enterovirus 71.

In this study, the potential of ozone in inactivating enterovirus 71 (EV71) free particles was investigated using either various ozone flow rates of 100, 80 or 60 mg/h or a constant flow rate of 80 mg/h, given to culture medium or various pH culture media containing EV71, respectively. Results demonstrated that EV71 inactivation by ozone was related to the kinetics of ozone solubility, approximately 99% inactivation being obtained in the exponential phase of ozone solubility. However, the inactivation rate was dependent on the ozone input flow rate and positively enhanced at acidic pH. Inactivation of intracellular EV71 was also studied. At a constant ozone supply of 60 mg/h, a significant reduction of intracellular virus titer (> or =99%, p < 0.01) was obtained after 45 or 60 min exposure but with low cell viability. Upon 30 min exposure, however, 45% cell viability was retained. The results indicate that the inactivating effect of ozone on intracellular EV71 virus is dependent on exposure duration.