| 2ME | 2-mercaptoethanol |
| AA | Amino Acids |
| ACTH | Adrenocorticotropic hormone |
| Adventitious Agents | Those which contaminate cell cultures eg viruses, bacteria. |
| Attached Cells | Cells which will grow, survive or maintain function only when attached to an inert surface (eg, glass or plastic). |
| Anchorage-Dependant Cells | Cells which will grow, survive or maintain function only when attached to an inert surface (eg, glass or plastic). |
| Aneuploid | The situation which exists when the nucleus of a cell does not contain an exact multiple of the haploid number of chromosomes; one or more chromosomes being present in greater or lesser number than the rest. The chromosomes may or may not show rearrangements. |
| Aseptic Technique | Procedures used to prevent the introduction of fungi, bacteria, viruses, mycoplasma or other micro-organisms into cell, tissue and organ cultures. Although these procedures are used to prevent microbial contamination of cultures, they also prevent cross contamination of cell cultures as well. These procedures may or may not exclude the introduction of infectious molecules. |
| Authentication | Confirming by experimental means the origins and identity of a cell line. |
| BME | Basal Medium Eagle |
| BSA | Bovine Serum Albumin |
| BSS | Balanced Salt Solution |
| Budapest Treaty | A European-wide treaty/agreement of terms by which patents can be legally recognised under European law. This was put in place to combat the variation in patent regulations between so many different countries in Europe. ECACC is a recognised depository for patents under the Budapest Treaty. |
| BUdr | Bromo-deoxy Uridine |
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| BVDV | Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus |
| CEA | Carcinoembryonic Antigen |
| Cell Culture | Maintenance or cultivation of cells in vitro in which the cells are no longer organised into tissues. Origin tissue is disassociated by cell migration or mechanical or enzymic means. |
| Cell Cycle | The series of activities that each cell goes through. There are 5 recognised phases of the cell cycle: G0 - rest phase, G1 - 1st gap phase where cells prepare to synthesise DNA and undego mass synthesis, S - cells synthesise DNA and double 2n to 4n, G2 - 2nd gap phase where the cells prepare to divide and M - mitosis. |
| Cell Generation Time | The interval between consecutive divisions of a cell. |
| Cell Hybridisation | The fusion of two or more dissimilar cells leading to the formation of a synkaryon. |
| Cell Line | A cell line arises from a primary culture of the first successful sub-culture. The term cell line implies that cultures from it consist of lineages of cells originally present in the primary culture. The terms finite or continuous are used as prefixes if the status of the culture is known. If not, the term line will suffice. The term 'continuous line' replaces the term 'established line'. In any published description of a culture, one must make every attempt to publish the characterization or history of the culture. If such has already been published, a reference to the original publication must be made. In obtaining a culture from another laboratory, the proper designation of the culture, as originally named and described, must be maintained and any deviations in cultivation from the original must be reported in any publication. |
| Cell Phase | A description of the stage of growth that a cell population is in. There are 4 recognised phases: Lag Phase - where there is no net increase in cell number as the cells adapt to their environment, Log/Exponential Phase - where the population increases exponentially, Plateau - no net increase in cell numbers as the limits of space, nutrients and other factors are reached and Death/Decline Phase - where there is a net decrease in the population as the cells begin to die. Cell phases are pictorially represented as a growth curve. |
| Cell Strain | A cell strain is derived either from a primary culture or a cell line by the selection or cloning of cells having specific properties or markers. |
| Chemically Defined Medium | A nutritive solution for culturing cells in which each component is specifiable and, ideally, is of known chemical structure. |
| Clonality | The extent to which one clone is similar to another. |
| Colony Forming Efficiency | The percentage of cells plated (seeded, inoculated) that form a colony. Also known as plating efficiency. |
| Conditioned Medium | Medium containing growth factors secreted by other cells. |
| Confluency | The percentage to which adherent cells cover the substrate (eg Flask). Note that cells should regularly be subcultured at around 60-70% confluency but please refer to the cell line data sheet or catalogue information as some cell lines do not reach this level of confluency. |
| Contact Inhibition | The property of a cell to cease division when in contact with neighbouring cells or when growing in restricted space |
| Continuous Cell Culture | A culture that is apparently capable of an unlimited number of population doublings; often referred to as an immortal cell culture. Such cells may or may not express the characteristics of in vitro neoplastic or malignant transformation. (See also 'immortalisation' ) |
| Cross Contamination | When one cell culture has been introduced to another giving rise to a mixed cell population. If once cell type grows more vigorously than the other then that cell type will prevail. |
| Cryopreservation | Ultra-low temperature storage of cells, tissues, embryos or seeds. This storage is usually carried out in the vapour or liquid phase of nitrogen. |
| CS CPE | Calf Serum Cytopathic effect caused by viral infection of cell lines, causing the morphology to change. |
| Differentiation | The defined process whereby individual cells characteristically change to a more specialised function. |
| Diploid | The state of the cell in which all chromosomes, except sex chromosomes, are two in number and are structurally identical with those of the species from which the culture was derived. Where there is a Commission Report available, the experimenter should adhere to the convention for reporting the karyotype of the donor. Commission Reports have been published for mouse, human and rat. In defining a diploid culture, one should present a graph depicting the chromosome number distribution leading to the modal number determination along with representative karyotypes. |
| DMEM | Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium with 4.5g/L Glucose |
| DMSO | Dimethyl Sulphoxide |
| DXMT | Dexamethasone |
| EBNA | Epstein Barr Nuclear Antigen |
| EBV | Originally a Human lymphotropic herpes virus that is now used in the immortalisation of B lymphoblast cells |
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| EDTA | Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic Acid |
| EGF | Epidermal Growth Factor |
| EMEM [EBSS] | Eagles Minimum Essential Medium with Earles Balanced Salt Solution |
| EMEM [HBSS] | Eagles Minimum Essential Medium with Hanks Balanced Salt Solution |
| Epithelial-Like | Resembling or characterisation of, having the form or appearance of epithelial cells. In order to define a cell as an epithelial cell, it must possess characteristics typical of epithelial cells. For example, often epithelial cells will appear cuboidal when viewed under the light microscope and grow in sheets wherein the cells are in quite close contact with one another. In some types of epithelial cells, the nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio will be relatively high when compared to fibroblast cells. |
| F10 | Ham's F10 nutrient medium |
| F12 | Ham's F12 nutrient medium |
| F12k | Modified Ham's F12 nutrient medium |
| FBS | Foetal Bovine Serum (also known as FCS) |
| FBS (Foetal Bovine Serum) /
FCS (Foetal Calf Serum) | Serum from blood plasma that contains the wide range of nutrients necessary to support the growth of cells in culture. |
| FCS | Foetal Calf Serum (also known as FBS) |
| Feeder Layer | A layer of cells usually lethally irradiated or chemically treated to stop DNA synthesis, upon which are cultured a fastidious cell type. |
| FGF | Fibroblast Growth Factor |
| Fibroblast Like | Resembling or characteristic of, having the form or appearance of fibroblast cells. In order to define a cell as a fibroblast cell, it must possess characteristics typical of fibroblast cells. For example, often fibroblast cells will appear pointed, elongated or stellate when viewed under the light microscope and grow in sheets wherein the cells are rather loosely in contact with one another. The cells may produce parallel arrays at confluence. In some types of fibroblast cells, the nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio will be relatively low when compared to epithelial cells. |
| Finite Cell Lines | Cell cultures that will only survive a certain number of population doublings before senescence. All normal cells are finite. |
| Genetic Drift | A change or mutation in the genetic make up of a cellular population induced by long term culture or a change in growth conditions. |
| GM-CSF | Granulocyte Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor |
| GMEM | Glasgow's Modified Minimum Essential Medium |
| Growth Curve | See Cell Phase. |
| Growth Factors | Usually proteins required by cells for their growth and metabolism. Most cell lines are satisfied by those growth factors included in serum but others require additional supplements. |
| HAT | Hypoxanthine, Aminopterin, Thymidine Selection medium used in production of hybridomas. |
| HB | Hybridoma Supplement |
| HCG | Human Chorionic Gonadotropin |
| Heterokaryon | A cell possessing two or more genetically different nuclei in a common cytoplasm, usually derived as a result of cell-to-cell fusion. |
| Heteroploid | The term given to a cell culture when the cells comprising the culture possess nuclei containing chromosome numbers other than the diploid number. This is a term used only to describe a culture and is not used to describe individual cells. Thus, a heteroploid culture would be one that contains aneuploid cells. |
| Homokaryon | A cell possessing two or more genetically identical nuclei in a common cytoplasm, derived as a result of cell-to-cell fusion. |
| HS | Horese Serum |
| HT | Hypoxanthine, Thymidine |
| Hybrid Cell | The term used to describe the mononucleate cell that results from the fusion of two different cells, leading to the formation of a synkaryon. |
| Hybridoma | The cell which results from the fusion of an antibody producing tumour cell (myeloma) and an antigenically-stimulated normal plasma cell. Such cells are constructed because they produce a single antibody directed against the antigen epitope that stimulated the plasma cell. This antibody is referred to as a monoclonal antibody |
| IBMX | 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine |
| IL | Interleukin |
| IDMEM | Iscoves Modified Dulbecco's Medium |
| Immortalisation | The attainment by a finite cell culture, whether by perturbation or intrinsically, of the attributes of a continuous cell line. An immortalised cell is not necessarily one, which is neoplastically or malignantly transformed. |
| In Vitro Neoplastic Transformation | The acquisition, by cultured cells, of the property to form neoplasms, benign or malignant, when inoculated into animals. Many transformed cell populations which arise in vitro intrinsically or through deliberate manipulation by the investigator, produce only benign tumours, that is, tumours which show no local invasion or metastasis following animal inoculation. |
| In Vitro Senescence | In vertebrate cell culture, the property attributable to finite cell cultures, namely their inability to grow beyond a finite number of population doubling, eg MRC-5, WI38 cells. Neither invertebrate nor plant cell cultures exhibit this property. |
| In Vitro Transformation | A heritable change, occurring in cells in culture, either intrinsically or from treatment with chemical carcinogens, oncogenic viruses, irradiation, transfection with oncogenes, etc and leading to the acquisition of altered morphological, antigenic, neoplastic, proliferative, or other properties. |
| L-15 | Leibovtzs L-15 |
| LH | Luteinising Hormone or Lactalbumin Hydrolysate |
| LS | Lamb Serum |
| M199 | Medium 199 |
| M-CSF | Macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor |
| MEM | Eagle's Minimum Essential Medium |
| MEM (EBSS) | Eagle's Minimum Essential Medium with Earle's Balanced Salt Solution |
| MEM (HBSS) | Eagle's Minimum Essential Medium with Hank's Balanced Salt Solution |
| Microbial Contamination | When a micro-organism (adventitious agent) is introduced to a cell culture. Includes bacteria, yeast, fungi and mycoplasma. Most contaminants will disrupt the growth or growth conditions of a culture. |
| MIGB | M-iodobenzylguanadine |
| Monoclonal Antibody | An antibody secreted by a hybridoma. |
| NaP | Sodium Pyruvate |
| NBCS | Newborn Calf Serum |
| NEAA | Non Essential Amino Acids |
| Passage | The transfer of transplantation of cells, with or without dilution, from one culture vessel to another. It is understood that any time cells are transferred from one vessel to another, a certain portion of the cells may be lost and therefore, dilution of cells, whether deliberate or not, may occur. This term is synonymous with the term 'subculture'. |
| Passage Number | The number of times the cells in the culture have been subcultured or passed. In descriptions of this process, the ratio or dilution of the cells should be stated so that the relative cultural age gap can be ascertained. This term is not synonymous with population doubling. |
| PBS | Phosphate Buffered Saline(calcium and magnesium free) |
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| PHA | Phytohhaemagglutinin |
| Phenotype | The expressed characteristics of a cell or cell culture. This includes the morphology, markers, products secreted and all other physical attributes. |
| Ploidy | A description of the number of chromosome sets included in a cell. eg. 2n - diploid/normal cells, 3n - triploid, 4n - tetraploid, etc. |
| PMA | Phorbol Myristate Acetate |
| Population Doubling Level | The total number of population doublings of a cell line or strain since its initiation in vitro . A formula to use for the calculation of 'population doublings' in a single passage is: number of population doublings = Log10(N/N0) X 3.33 where: N= number of cells in the growth vessel at the end of a period of growth N0= numberof cells plated in the growth vessel. It is best to use the number of viable cells or number of attached cells for this determination. Population doublings level is synonymous with 'cell generation time'. |
| Price Code | The way in which ECACC prioritises its cell line stocks. Price code A reflects those cell lines ordered most often and so the banks are larger and more cryogenic storage space is assigned to them. Other price codes consist of cell lines that are ordered less often and so stocks are smaller and more labour intensive. |
| Primary Culture | A culture started from cells, tissues or organs taken directly from organisms. A primary culture may be regarded as such until it is successfully subcultured for the first time, when it becomes a 'cell line'. |
| Pro-cck | Pro-cholecystokinin |
| Proliferation | Refers to an increase in viable cell numbers in a population or when a single cell doubles. |
| Pseudodiploid | This describes the condition where the number of chromosomes in a cell is diploid but, as a result of chromosomal rearrangements, the karyotype is abnormal and linkage relationships may be disrupted. |
| RCD (Research Council Deposit) | Some cell lines in the General and Hybridoma collections at ECACC were deposited by the Research Council or with the aid of a Research Council grant. UK non-profit making organisations may receive a single ampoule of each RCD cell line free of charge. Please note that carriage charges will still apply |
| RA | Retinoic Acid |
| Resuscitation | Process of reviving cells from a frozen state. |
| RPMI | Roswell Park Memorial Institute. Often used as an abbreviation for RPMI 1640 nutrient medium. |
| Saturation Density | The maximum number of cells attainable per cm2 (monolayer culture) or per ml (suspension culture) under specific culture conditions. |
| SDM | Schneiders Drosophila Medium |
| Seeding Density | The number of cells either per cm2 (if an adherent cell line) or per ml (if a suspension cell line) that are resuspended in a fresh flask after subculture. The recommended seeding density suggested by ECACC reflects the limits of a cell line to survive a split (ie. too low and there will not be a large enough population to successfully colonise the flask, too high and insufficient nutrients and space will be available for growth of any considerable length of time) |
| Senescence | The point at which a cell or cell culture terminally ceases to grow. |
| Serum-Free Medium | Specialised medium that contains additional supplements and growth factors so that cells can grow in the absence of animal sera. It is still the case that only cells adapted to serum-free growth will prosper in serum-free media. |
| SMEM | Spinners Modified Minimum Essential Medium |
| Somatic Cell Hybrid | The cell resulting from the fusion of animal cells derived from somatic cells that differ genetically. |
| Subculture | The transfer of cells from one culture vessel to another. Cells are usually diluted at subculture for continuous growth |
| Suspension Cell Lines | Cells that do not require anchorage in order to grow. |
| Synkaryon | A hybrid cell that results from the fusion of the nuclei it carries. |
| TGF | Transforming Growth Factor |
| Tissue Culture | Traditionally, the maintenance of fragments of tissue in vitro , but commonly is used as a generic term including tissue explant culture, organ culture and dispersed cell cultures, ie cell lines and cell strains. |
| Totipotency | A cell characteristic in which the potential for forming the entire cell types in the adult organism is retained. |
| tPA | Plasminogen Activator |
| TPB | Tryptose Phosphate Broth |
| Transfection | The transfer, for the purposes of genomic integration, of naked, foreign DNA into cells in culture. The traditional microbiological usage of this term implied that the DNA being transferred was derived from a virus. The definition as stated here is that which is in use to describe the general transfer of DNA irrespective of its sources, eg cloned genes. |
| Transformed Cells | Cells that have changed or have been changed in a way that differs to their normal counterparts. |
| TSH | Thyroid Stimulating Hormone |
| Variant | A culture exhibiting a stable phenotypic change whether genetic or epigenetic in origin. |
| VITS | Vitamins |
| Xenograft | Transplantation of tissue to a different species from which it was derived. Often used to describe implantation of human tumours in athymic (nude) immune suppressed mice. |
