Cellular-tissue cultivation laboratory

At the beginning of the 20^th century, cultivation of animal and human cells in vitro was discovered to be possible. Since then, cell cultures have been widely used in scientific research and for the needs of regenerative medicine.

The human body consists of a large number of different cells. Some of them specialized to perform a specific function but lost the ability to divide. The other ones regularly divide and multiply. In vitro, only cells capable of multiplying can be cultivated. In the process of cultivation, cells divide and their number increases. After that, we make a cell preparation from the cells obtained and introduce it into the patient’s body to compensate for a lack of his/her own cells.

Cells are isolated from a sample of the patient’s tissue. Depending on the cell type, a sample of some particular type of tissue is taken: fibroblasts are isolated from a skin sample, stem cells are taken from the bone marrow or adipose tissue. The sample is ground and placed in a culture medium whose composition is selected for the particular cell culture and strictly standardized. Cells are cultivated in special dishes made of non-toxic plastic.

Capable of dividing cells survive and begin to divide; the remaining cells do not multiply. Thus, only the suitable cells are selected from all the cells of the tissue sample, their culture is then maintained for a certain period of time until the number of cells increases to the level required for making a cell preparation.

Cell cultures require strict standards of care. The culture medium requires being regularly changed to prevent cells death due to cells’ own toxic wastes. Human cells can grow only under the condition of a high content of carbon dioxide, so they are cultivated in a special CO2 incubator that maintains a certain air composition and the temperature stable at 37°C.

Cultivation of human cells is a very complex and multi-stage process that requires highly-qualified personnel. The safety of our patients and the efficacy of the preparation depend on how correctly the cultivation is carried out. Violation of the culture technology can cause death or degeneration of cells in the culture.