Multichannel flow-injection-analysis biosensor system for on-line monitoring of glucose, lactate, glutamine, glutamate and ammonia in animal cell culture.

The application of a chemiluminometric method for the on-line monitoring of a hybridoma cell culture is described. Enzyme sensors for glucose, lactate, glutamine, glutamate and ammonia, based on oxidase-catalysed reactions, were developed and connected to a flow-injection-analysis (f.i.a.) biosensor. H2O2 produced by the oxidase-catalysed enzyme reaction was detected by luminol chemiluminescence with a fibre-optic H2O2 biosensor. The system has been used to monitor animal cell cultures. A continuous hybridoma cell cultivation for the production of monoclonal antibodies is presented as an example. It was possible to monitor the bioprocess over a period of 15 days. A complete analysis of all five components could be performed within 42 min. The enzyme sensors were stable during the whole cultivation time without significant loss of activity. The computer-controlled biosensor f.i.a. works with good reliability. The precision for all five components ranged between 2.2 and 4.5%. It was possible to determine glutamine in one step using an anti-interference enzyme reactor. Endogenous glutamate was completely removed up to a level of 0.5 mM.