Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2023-08-11 Origin: Site
Cell line and cell strain are two concepts commonly used in cell biology, and they play an important role in the study of the physiology, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology of cells. Despite their similarity, there are actually distinct differences.
Let's first look at the definition of cell line. A cell line is a population of cells consisting of the same type of cells obtained from a primitive tissue or cell by methods such as culture and passaging culture. Simply put, a cell line is aseries of cultures and passages in which primitive cells are cultured so that they can continue to proliferate and have certain specific properties or express certain specific genes.
The misconcipt of a cell line is a cell strain. A cell strain is a subset of cells isolated from a cell line that have similar traits, phenotypes, and functions. A cell strain is selected from a cell line and subdivided in culture to obtain a homogeneous group of cells that can be passed on continuously without much genetic mutation or phenotypic change.
1 Origin
Cell lines are obtained from primitive tissues or cells. Generally, the cell population generated by scraping or isolating cells from tissues in human or animal bodies, through the process of culture and passaging culture, is a cell line. A cell strain, on the other hand, is a specific population of cells isolated from a cell line. Through selection and isolation, cell strains with specific traits and functions are obtained from cell lines.
2 Transmission
Cell lines can be cultured in successive passages, i.e., from one generation to the next, and the cells will continue to proliferate by providing appropriate culture conditions. The number of passages of a cell line is usually high, so that the cell line is able to maintain its proliferative capacity for a long period of time. Cell strains, on the other hand, are obtained by selecting a portion of cells from a cell line and subdividing them into cultures. The cell strain has a relatively low number of passages, and is usually obtained after a certain selection in the cell line, so care needs to be taken to maintain the stability of its characteristics and functions in the successor culture.
3 Stability
As cell lines go through the process of culture and passaging, genetic mutations or phenotypic changes may occur, resulting in a certain degree of variation and heterogeneity of the cells within the cell line. Cell strains, on the other hand, have relatively high stability, and their cells are able to maintain more stable traits and functions during the process of transgenerational culture.
4 Genetic Characteristics
As cell lines may undergo genetic mutations during the process of passaging culture, the cells in cell lines have certain genetic variations. These variations may lead to differences in gene expression, protein synthesis and cellular functions among different cells. Cell strains have a high degree of homogeneity due to selection and isolation, and the cells within a cell strain are more similar in their genetic characteristics.
Cell lines and cell strains are widely used in cell biology research. Cell lines can be used to explore the functional, physiological and biochemical properties of cells, as well as a variety of cellular and molecular biology experiments; whereas cell strains can be used to generate a large number of homogeneous cells for experimental needs, and to a certain extent have more stable traits and functions.
The applications of cell lines and cell strains are further illustrated by experimental examples below. For example, when studying the cellular biological mechanisms of human breast cancer, researchers can establish a cell line obtained from a breast cancer patient, culture and passaging culture these cell lines to obtain a sufficient number of cells. From these cell lines, researchers can then select and isolate a cell line that expresses a particular gene in order to further study the effect of that gene on the development of breast cancer.
In conclusion, although cell lines and cell strains are similar, they differ significantly in terms of their origins, stability and genetic characteristics. In cell biology research, cell lines and cell strains play different roles and have a wide range of applications in experimental design and subject matter. Understanding the concepts and differences between cell lines and cell strains is very important for scientific research and experimental design, and helps to improve the accuracy and reproducibility of experiments.
