Glutathione improves early somatic embryogenesis in Araucaria angustifolia (Bert) O. Kuntze by alteration in nitric oxide emission

In this work, it was observed a straight relationship between the manipulation of the reduced glutathione (GSH)/glutathione disulfide (GSSG) ratio, nitric oxide emission and quality and number of early somatic embryos in Araucaria angustifolia, a Brazilian endangered native conifer. In low concentrations GSH (0.01 and 0.1 mM) is a potential NO scavenger in the culture medium. Furthermore, it can increase the number of early SE formed in cell suspension culture media in a few days. However, the maintenance in this low redox state lead to a loss of early somatic embryos polarization. In gelled culture medium, high levels of GSH (5 mM) allows the development of globular embryos presenting a high NO emission on embryo apex, stressing its importance in the differentiation and cell division. Taken together these results indicate that the modification of the embryogenic cultures redox state might be an effective strategy to develop more efficient embryogenic systems in A. angustifolia. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transient transfection of serum-free suspension HEK 293 cell culture for efficient production of human rFVIII

Abstract Background Hemophilia A is a bleeding disorder caused by deficiency in coagulation factor VIII. Recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII) is an alternative to plasma-derived FVIII for the treatment of hemophilia A. However, commercial manufacturing of rFVIII products is inefficient and costly and is associated to high prices and product shortage, even in economically privileged countries. This situation may be solved by adopting more efficient production methods. Here, we evaluated the potential of transient transfection in producing rFVIII in serum-free suspension HEK 293 cell cultures and investigated the effects of different DNA concentration (0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 μg/106 cells) and repeated transfections done at 34° and 37°C. Results We observed a decrease in cell growth when high DNA concentrations were used, but no significant differences in transfection efficiency and in the biological activity of the rFVIII were noticed. The best condition for rFVIII production was obtained with repeated transfections at 34°C using 0.4 μg DNA/106 cells through which almost 50 IU of active rFVIII was produced six days post-transfection. Conclusion Serum-free suspension transient transfection is thus a viable option for high-yield-rFVIII production. Work is in progress to further optimize the process and validate its scalability.