A brief account of Cell Immobilization

2. Cell Immobilization
 A technique to fix plant cells in a suitable matrix.
 Materials for matrix
 Alginate
 Agarose
 Polyacrylamide
 Carrageenin
 Gelatin
 Polylysine

3. Methods of Cell Immobilization
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4.  Entrapment in the form of alginate beads is
the most widely used method.
 Alginate is a polysaccharide that forms a
stable gel in presence of cations like
Calcium.
Eg. : Immobilization of yeast cells
(Saccharomyces cerevisiae ) in Calcium
alginate beads.
Steps
• Prepare 2% Sodium alginate solution.
• Add 5 gms of yeast to this and stir well.

5.  This mixture is filled
in a burette.
 Prepare 2% Calcium
chloride and take this
in a small beaker.
 The mixture of
Sodium alginate and
yeast cells in the
burette is allowed to
drip drop by drop
into the Calcium
chloride solution.
Result
Calcium alginate beads
containing

7. Advantages of Cell Immobilization
 Applicable to both suspension and monolayer cultures.
 Higher cell densities
 Less dependence of cells at higher densities on external
supply of growth factors.
 Protect the cells from mechanical damage in large
bioreactors.

8. Medium diffuses freely into the matrix
and into the cells while cell products
move out into the medium.
Stability and longevity of cultures –
allows production for longer periods
than suspension cultures – hormones,
enzymes etc.

9. Applications of Cell Immobilization
 For biotransformation
 Higher production rates than freely suspended
cells.
Eg. Immobilized Capsicum cultures treated with
precursors accumulated more quantities of
biochemical compounds than freely suspended
cells.

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