Culture system for the culture of solid tissue masses and method of using the same

摘要

A culture tube is divided into 5 sealed chambers: a gaseous supply chamber; a liquid supply chamber; a culture chamber; a gaseous return chamber and a liquid return chamber. Cell-impermeable hydrophilic tubes extend from the liquid supply chamber, through the culture chamber to the liquid return chamber. Liquid nutrient flows in the tubes and perfuses through the walls thereof under differential pressure to nourish the cells in the culture chamber. Cell-impermeable hydrophobic tubes extend from the gaseous supply chamber, through the culture chamber, to the gaseous return chamber to provide respiratory gases to and remove waste gases from cells in the culture chamber. The apparatus is designed to be a radially symmetric and thus, provide a uniform tissue culture. Pressure indicators flush-mounted on the walls of the chamber tube, may be provided to monitor chamber conditions and relay this information to a micro-computer which enriches the culture chamber environment. A central tube extends along the longitudinal axis of the culture tube, and is appropriately sectioned and modified to supply liquid nutrient to the liquid supply chamber and remove waste fluids including soluble product, from the culture chamber. In another embodiment, a single cell impermeable, hydrophilic tube extends through the culture apparatus and the filtrate is still removed by the central macroporous tubes. In this embodiment, there is no need for a liquid return chamber.