The enhancement of specific antibody production rate in glucose- and glutamine-controlled fed-batch culture.

The concentration effects of certain amino acids (Asp, Ile, Leu, Lys, Met, Val, Phe and Gln which were highly consumed during cultivation), and glucose on cell growth and antibody productivity were investigated using dish culture. From these experiments, it was found that only glutamine enrichment enhanced the specific antibody production rate. The other amino acids described above did not affect either the specific growth rate or specific antibody production rate. Thus we investigated the quantitative effects of glutamine concentration in the range of 0.4-33.3 mmol.l-1 on kinetic parameters in fed-batch culture which kept both glucose and glutamine concentration constant. As a result the specific growth rate decreased with increase in glutamine concentration in the range larger than 20 mmol.l-1. The specific antibody production rate had a maximum value at about 25 mmol.l-1 glutamine concentration.