How do I grow hybridoma cell lines as ascites, especially rat-mouse hybridomas?
ATCC propagates most hybridomas as cell cultures in vitro, but many can be grown efficiently as ascites by inoculation into the peritoneal cavities of mice. Some rat-mouse hybridomas are more problematical as the host mouse strain may develop anti-rat antibodies and eventually reject the hybridoma inoculum. To minimize this difficulty one can use athymic nude mice as hosts or immunosuppress host animals prior to inoculation. For a protocol see p.403 in Hybridomas: A New Dimension in Biological Analyses (1980), Kennett, R.J., McKearn, T.J., and Bechtol, K.B., eds. (Plenum Press, New York). How can I adapt a monolayer cell line to grow in suspension culture? Answer: Not all cell lines can be adapted to suspension growth. In general, normal diploid anchorage-dependent (must be attached to a substrate to grow) cells cannot be adapted without the use of microcarrier beads to which they can attach. Lines such as L-929 (ATCC CCL-1) and HeLa (ATCC CCL-2) which are not anchorage-dependent can b
