Kinetic study of hybridoma cell growth in continuous culture. I. A model for non‐producing cells

The kinetic behavior of a nonproducing hybridoma clone AFP‐27‐NP was investigated in continuous culture under glucose‐limited conditions. A total of more than 21, 000 h of cultures were operated at dilution rates ranging from 0.01 to 0.06 h⁻¹. The viable cell concentrations, dead cell concentrations, and cell volumes all varied with the dilution rate. A steady‐state model was developed based on the biomass concentration and the glucose concentration. The specific growth rate as a function of glucose concentration is described by a model similar to the Monod model with a threshold glucose concentration and a minimum specific growth rate incorporated; the model is meaningful only at glucose concentrations and specific growth rates above these levels. A death rate is included in the model which is described by an inverted Monod‐type function of glucose concentration. The yield coefficient based on glucose is constant in the lower range of specific growth rates and changes to a new constant value in the upper region of specific growth rates. No maintenance term for glucose consumption was needed; in the plot of specific glucose consumption rate vs. specific growth rate, the line intercepted the specific growth rate axis at a value close to the minimum growth rate. The values for the model parameters were determined from regression analysis of the steady‐state data. The model predictions and experimental results fit very well.