Fundamentals of cell culture

Abstract

The purpose of this review is to provide a fundamental understanding of cellular technologies for students, doctors, masters. Cell culture is an important technique in both cellular and molecular biology given that it provides the best platform for studying the normal physiology and biochemistry of cells. The reason for focusing on cell culture systems is because they are indispensable tools for basic research and a wide range of clinical in vitro studies. The review provides a critical analysis: both positive and negative aspects of cell technologies. Cell cultures can be used to mimic living conditions. The disadvantages include the fact that cell culture is still not an absolute model of a living organism, but only resembles the living conditions of living organisms. A further disadvantage is with contaminants of cell culture; these can be divided into chemical and biological contaminants. Working with cell culture is a financially costly laborious process: it requires modern equipment, specialized laboratory and well trained staff. The article discusses in detail the issues of the use of cell cultures in medicine, pharmaceutical industry and biology.