Question

What are 3 disadvantages of in vitro cell culture research? Explain.

Answer 1

Cell culture is the technique to grow and maintain cells in vitro in a lab. It requires a highly skilled technician along with comprehensive instrumentation and completely aseptic involvement. There are many advantages of maintaining a cell culture because it help us to study many cellular processes in vitro which occurs inside a living organism. But there are certain disadvantages as follows -

1. The cell lives inside a living organism in very specific microenvironment of temperature, pH, salt concentration, interaction with biomolecules of the same cell interaction with biomolecules of the Other cells, extracellular Matrix, spell signalling and cell recognition Pathways. Although we can maintain temperature, pH and salt concentration but it is very difficult to maintain the interaction of these cells with the other cells and biomolecules.

2. There are very high chances of contamination of our cell culture with other types of cells. Contamination does not mean that any pathogenic microbes is growing. Instead any type of unwanted cell is a contaminant. Contaminant is not always the pathogen.

3. A comprehensive instrumentation which is expensive, highly skilled technicians, expensive and standardized nutrient media and other serums and growth factors are important for cell culture, all of which are expensive and difficult to obtain.

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