Hydrodynamic Conditions in a Simple Rotating Microbioreactor Induce Chanches in Excretion Level and Glycosylation Patterns of the Von Willebrand Factor (vWF) in Endotellial Cells

There is an ongoing debate on the extent of the effect of mechanical stress (if any) on the performance on mammalian cell cultures. Here, we study the effect of low speed rotational agitation on the level of expression and the glycosylation patterns of the Von Willebrand factor in endothelial cells cultured in 6 cm Petri dishes placed at different locations of a rotating platform. In this simple system, complex and non-intuitive velocity fields arise. Flow behavior strongly varies depending on radial distance and rotational velocity value, as revealed by simple calculations of tangential velocities and CFD analysis. We found significant differences in both, excretion level and glycosylation patterns (extend and completeness of glycosylation), as a result of relatively small changes in rotational speed. Our results support the hypothesis that differences in mixing conditions may induce important changes in the secretion and assembly of glycoproteins in mammalian cell cultures.