Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1987

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Chemical Engineering

Major Professor

George C. Frazier

Committee Members

Donald K. Dougall

Abstract

rature on the effects of environmental factors on individual plant cells.and small aggregates of plant cells Is limited in terms of the growth and division of plant cells under low population densities. Environmental factors such as pH, substrate concentrations, and dissolved gases in the culture medium are believed to be Important In cell growth. Several environmental factors were Investigated during a two-year period by observing the growth and division of Individual cellular units plated In Petri dishes in an agar-containing medium and in ceils held stationary in a continuous flow perfusion chamber which maintained a constant environment around the cells.

The results showed that aggregates of two spherical cells had a higher percentage of Initial division than single cells having spherical, elongated, or Irregular shapes. These results were common for both the plating and continuous flow experiments. A decrease in the mean generation time from the first to the third generation was observed in cells plated in an agar-containing medium. The use of culture medium saturated with pure oxygen was found to produce cell growth comparable to media saturated with air only. Furthermore, replacing sucrose with glucose in the culture medium appears to have a positive effect on cell division in the perfusion chamber. Results suggest that the leakage of Important cellular metabolites essential for cell growth may be an important factor in the growth of single cells and doublets under these experimental conditions.

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