What does Valentine’s Day have to do with Cell Confluency? 🔬❤️❓

“I have to split my cells. But I don’t have time.”

“C’mon! Split them tomorrow, a few hours won’t make a difference!”

Oops! 😱

Cells are social creatures, and as with us humans, cell-cell-interactions and communication affect functionality and development.

Spatial proximity, the number of contacts, the concentration of particles released, all play a role in the functionality and the happiness-score 😉 of your cells.

Changes in cell density lead to immediate changes in the cell’s metabolism, such as glucose uptake, oxidative phosphorylation, lactate metabolism, and cholesterol metabolism. But gene expression, protein synthesis, miRNA expression and overall cell morphology can also be influenced.

What does this mean for your cells in culture?

🌺 Learn to estimate cell confluency really well.

🌺 For solid results, harvest your cells at the same confluency each time for your experiments.

🌺 Stick to a consistent passaging routine.

🌺 For sub-culturing, it makes a big difference whether the cells are cultivated in a crowded or a deserted environment. None of this is “good” or “bad”, just a different condition that affects cell function.

If we do not take into account that cell confluency and cell density matter, the reproducibility of our experiments will suffer. 👎😟

Cells are social creatures – if they need to be passaged today, don’t wait until tomorrow. 👍😊

💗 Happy Cellentine’s Day! 💗

#valentinesday #mint #stem #cellconfluency #cellculture #gccp #science #research #cellentinesday

Author: asban