What Is a Representative Cell Culture?

By Marzia KhanReviewed by Megan Craig, M.Sc.

A representative cell culture can be described as a sample of cells that is used by researchers to represent a larger population of cells.

Representative cell cultures are significant as researchers studying cell behavior can use a subset of cells or a specific cell line for their experiments to gain further understanding of various research questions, such as for diseases.

Cell lines can be used as a model to represent healthy or diseased tissue, and this can be an easy, stable and inexpensive strategy to gain further understanding of research and drug development. However, they may not be fully representative of in vivo biological reactions, with human primary cells offering a more complex physiological experience for researchers wanting a natural interaction more native to the human body.

Human Primary Cells Versus Immortal Cell Lines

Human primary cells can be obtained directly from tissues, retaining their morphological as well as functional features from the native tissue. An example of this type of tissue includes tumor tissue from colorectal or other types of cancer. These cell lines can be useful due to the preservation of tumor markers used to diagnose patients, which can differ from cell lines that display variation in their expression.

A significant disadvantage of human primary cells is their short lifespan, with these cells having limited divisions, differentiation, self-renewal and undergoing senescence. These cells experience both morphological and functional changes with each division. Such a characteristic is challenging for researchers, as they would need to be used in early passage numbers for their morphology and function to be valid for experimental use. However, other factors that can impact cell behavior include the age and genetic characteristics of the donor the cells were sampled from.

Contrastively, cell lines have been a significant component of advancing science and medicine, with decades of research completed on cell lines providing integral information on biological processes within human cells. The use of immortal cell lines has also become a significant tool used for various experiments in different fields, from drug metabolism and cytotoxicity to gene function analysis and vaccine development.

Immortalized cell lines can include either tumorous cells that consistently keep dividing or cells that have been manipulated artificially to continue to divide. This can be advantageous for researchers compared to primary cell cultures as they can provide a larger sample of cells to use for experimentation without passaging impacting the morphology or functionality of the cells.

Choosing a Representative Cell Culture Option

When deciding on a research project, various research questions require consideration to decide which type of cells would be the best fit. Factors that need consideration include whether researchers would want a cell culture model that closely represents in vivo biological reactions within humans, as this would result in human primary cells being the preferred option.

Using human primary cells can also prove to be beneficial if the results of the experiment are going to be published, as reviewers may prefer the research to be validated within a system that is closely related to the physiology of humans.

However, the use of immortal cell lines can also be beneficial to researchers as they are known to be easier to work with and well established, but the disadvantage with these cell lines includes cell behavior being less representative of in vivo human physiology.

Researchers that decide which cell culture is more appropriate for their experiment would need to decide what factors are most significant for their hypothesis. While human primary cells are more representative of in vivo human physiology, they can be difficult to work with, with a smaller quantity that may not allow for mistakes.

Another option for researchers includes working with an immortal cell line first to gauge whether their tests produce effective results, which can then be validated with experimentation with human primary cells. This may be a good option for those concerned about expenditure, as immortal cell lines are less expensive than human primary cells.

Future Outlook

Cell culture is one of the most significant methods of advancing biomedical science and medicine, with experimentation with cell culture being undertaken from the 20^th century, leading to integral biological insight into many different fields, from drugs to biological processes and antibodies.

The use of representative cell culture is useful for understanding cell behavior within the human body, with similar cell interaction allowing researchers to test hypotheses that could also potentially work in vivo. Subsequently, this can lead to understanding cell response to drugs, how they develop diseases and even the impact of toxicity within the body. This results in many significant benefits, such as aiding in disease treatment and prevention, as well as researching novel biomarker targets for orphan diseases without a cure.

Further Reading

• All Cell Culture Content
• Cell Line Authentication using DNA Barcoding
• How to Generate Stable Cell Lines