Why Are Immortal Cell Lines Important For Biological Research
Olivia Luz
Ideally all work is best if done in primary cells because that is what the tissue is closest to.
Human cell lines are immortalized cells propagated in vitro from primary explants of human tissue or body fluid. For this purpose they need immortal cell lines which have the ability to grow indefinitely and could be frozen for years. The cells came from a cervical cancer sample obtained from henrietta lack in 1951 without her knowledge or permission. As mentioned the aim of your research determines the type of cell culture you use.
These cells have been and still are widely used in biological research such as creation of the polio vaccine sex hormone steroid research and cell metabolism. An immortal cell line describes a group of cells in an organism that can reproduce indefinitely. Immortal cell lines have become a powerful tool for countless applications including testing drug metabolism and cytotoxicity studying gene function as well as producing vaccines antibodies and biological compounds. There are many advantages to using immortalized cell lines.
Immortal cell lines of cancer cells can be created by induction of oncogenes or loss of tumor suppressor genes. Immortalised cell lines can also be cloned giving rise to a clonal population which can in turn be propagated indefinitely. The use of human cell cultures as a model for more complex biological systems is an integral part of molecular biology and biomedical research. The main advantage of using an immortal cell line for research is its immortality.
RELATED ARTICLE :
- why do i sneeze when i look at the sun
- why do i sweat so much at night
- why do i lose interest when someone likes me back psychology
They are at least theoretically homogeneous genetically identical populations which aids in providing consistent and reproducible results. Because there are standard lines used by many different labs immortalized cells are fairly well characterized. This simplifies analysis of the biology of cells which may otherwise have a limited lifetime.
Source : pinterest.com