Agitation induced cell injury in microcarrier cultures. Protective effect of viscosity is agitation intensity dependent: Experiments and modeling

The effect of medium viscosity on the specific death rate of bovine embryonic kidney (BEK) cells cultured in spinner flask microcarrier cultures has been examined for various impeller speeds. Two types of media were used, a serum‐containing growth medium and a serum‐free maintenance medium. The latter does not support cell growth. We found that increasing medium viscosity suppresses cell death rates in both growth and maintenance medium cultures in an agitation‐intensity‐dependent fashion; the beneficial effect of medium viscosity in reducing the specific death rate is amplified as the agitation rate is increased. Furthermore, increasing medium viscosity has no effect on the specific death rate of the cells when the agitation rate is below a critical level. A model based on the turbulent energy content of eddies in the dissipation spectrum of turbulence of length scales on the order of magnitude of the microcarrier diameter and lower has been developed to account for cell death due to both bead‐to‐bead and bead‐to‐eddy interactions. The model constitutes a significant departure from previous efforts first because both types of interactions are accounted for simultaneously and second because the properties of a spectrum of eddies instead of the Kolmogorov‐scale eddy size alone are used in the model. The model explains the functional dependence of the specific death rates on the medium viscosity at varying agitation intensities.