EFFECT OF IMMOBILIZATION INTO HYDROGEL BE ADS ON STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF HYBRIDOMA CELLS DURING A CULTIVATION PERIOD

Some characteristics of the gel-entrapped hybridoma cells such as cell size, membrane immunoglobulin expression, and DNA content were studie d by now cytometry and compared to those of the free-suspended culture . The entrapment of the cells in gel beads was found to result in the increase of the cell size which correlated to the DNA content and memb rane immunoglobulin expression enhancement. The cell cycle analyses of the entrapped cell and the free-suspended cells, based on DNA histogr ams, were quite different. Despite the changes of the cell structure, the entrapped cells retained high viability, and produced monoclonal a ntibodies during a cultivation period.