Planet-Safe® Sustainable Labware Cell Culture Advantages
Introduction
Planet-Safe® Sustainable Labware is a growing line of cell culture labware created by Diversified Biotech, Inc. Made from 100% renewable resources to meet the needs of laboratories focusing on more eco-friendly and sustainable practices. Planet-Safe® items are engineered with a lower carbon footprint and offer more environmentally friendly end-of-life options.
Cell Growth Without Additional Coatings
Planet-Safe® Cell Culture dishes made from PLA are considerably more hydrophilic than petrochemical resins such as polystyrene. This beneficial property allows a variety of anchorage-dependent cell species to grow on the dish surface without added coatings or treatments!
Improved Cell Adhesion
Planet-Safe® 96-well F-bottom microplates (Cat. # PLATE-1000) and Corning® Costar 96-well Stripwell microplates (Cat. # 9102) were utilized to study cellular adhesion and growth rate using NBT-II cells. PrestoBlue™, a non-destructive cell viability reagent, was used to measure cellular metabolic activity. NBT-II cells were seeded in 0.2 ml growth medium consisting of DMEM/F12, HEPES buffer, and glutamine with subsequent additions of Penicillin-Streptomycin antibiotics and 10% FBS. Cell densities of 3-4 × 10^5 and 1 × 10^5 cells/well were utilized and tested in three separate experiments at each density.
Once seeded, samples were incubated at 37°C for 5 hours. Growth medium was then removed, 0.2 ml PrestoBlue™ (10% in medium) was added, and samples were incubated for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, the fluorescence of each plate was measured using a BioTek Synergy Neo2 (Gen5 IVD Software) plate reader to determine the cell adherence efficiency between the Planet-Safe® and Corning® surfaces. As presented in the figure below, by measuring the metabolic activities of these cells at 24hrs post-seeding, across 6 separate experiments, the Planet-Safe® surface was found to contain, on average, 42% more cells. The resulting measurements indicate that the Planet-Safe® surface is more conducive to cell adhesion. Evaluation of this information using the statistical t-Test confirms that difference in measurements is statistically significant.
Reliable Cell Growth
Cells propagated during the cell adhesion study were rinsed, seeded at a density of 1-2 × 10^4 cells/well in 0.2 ml growth medium, and re-incubated for the purpose of measuring cellular growth rate. Cell growth measurements began 24 hours post-seeding and continued over the following 3 days. The process of removing growth medium, adding fresh PrestoBlue™ solution, fluorescence measurement, and further incubation was replicated across 3 experiments. The resulting data, shown for each experiment in Tables 1-3, indicates identical growth rates between the Planet-Safe® and Corning® surfaces.
Suitable for a Variety of Cell Lines
Test cultures with Planet-Safe® Cell Culture dishes show normal growth and support of several cell lines including adherent Human Embryonic Kidney-derived cells (HEK293), Monkey Kidney Fibroblast-derived cells (COS), and others. Observed growth rate and confluence results were comparable to leading tissue-culture treated polystyrene dishes.
Increased Stability & Reproducibility
During the washing step, a monolayer of cells is subject to a level of fluid force that can cause cell rupture and lead to cell loss. This fluid shear is the result of inconsistencies on the culture surface. In side-by-side testing Planet-Safe® Cell Culture dishes exhibited a much lower percentage of fluid shear compared to other available popular brands.
Awesome! Can you tell me more about the sustainability?
The plant-based material (PLA) used to make Planet-Safe® Labware is derived from sustainably harvested sugarcane starch. Planet-Safe® labware is commercially compostable where available and carries the USDA Biopreferred label.
OK, where can I find these products?
Ilex Life Sciences LLC is an authorized distributor of Planet-Safe® Sustainable Labware.