Cell Proliferation and Immunoglobulin Production in Human Hematopoietic Cell Culture

The nutritional requirements generally satisfied by serum in established cultures of human hematopoietic cells were studied in spinner culture. The optimum concentration of fetal calf serum for cell proliferation in medium RPMI #1640 appeared to be 20%, and the minimum to be 2%. In the logarithmic phase of cell growth, there was an exponential increase of protein in the cells and a corresponding decrease in the medium. Immunoglobulin production in one cell line was highest in the logarithmic phase of cell growth and in the culture medium supplemented with serum at a low level. The rate of cell proliferation under various culture conditions bears some relationship to the rate of immunoglobulin production in these cell lines.