Why is CO2 Incubator Used in Animal Cell Culture?

CO2 incubator is a primary essential instrument used in an animal cell culture laboratory. It is essential in creating a controlled environment. It creates a favourable physiological environment for the animal cells to grow in-vitro. Animal cells are highly sensitive and require precise temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels to survive, grow, and function properly outside the body.

The CO2 incubator maintains adequate pH in the culture media. Cell culture media consist of a bicarbonate buffering system. This involves a series of chemical reactions. When CO2 in an incubator interacts with the medium it creates unstable carbonic acid. This quickly breaks into bicarbonate ions and hydrogen ions, which balance the pH.  This is crucial as pH fluctuation to too acidic or too alkaline makes the cells stressed. This triggers cells to produce unwanted cellular metabolites, and pushes towards unwanted apoptosis. The cells stop growing, or can even die.

Besides, the CO2 incubator enables temperature control. Most mammalian cells grow best at around 37°C. This is the average human body temperature. The incubator keeps this temperature constant to support healthier cellular activity and metabolism.

CO2 incubators maintain high humidity levels (95%). This prevents media evaporation from the culture vessels. An adequate amount of humidity is crucial to maintain adequate salt concentration and nutrient balance for the cells.

CO2 incubator creates a stable and sterile environment required for adequate animal cell culture growth in-vitro. It plays a critical role in research areas such as drug discovery, cancer biology, vaccine development, stem cell research, and regenerative medicine.