Membrane resistance to oxygen transport inside hybridoma cells in suspension culture.
We have examined oxygen transport from media to a single hybridoma cell for different dissolved oxygen concentrations in media and oxygen consumption rates of cells. Intracellular oxygen concentration profiles inside the cell were simulated using currently available parameters. From the simulation, it was found that mass transfer resistance at the boundary layer does not seem to be significant. Intracellular oxygen concentrations did not differ very much from outside media concentration and the concentration gradients were relatively low for all five different media DOC's (from 0.1 to 100% air saturation). From these results, it is suspected that either hybridoma cells have better tolerance to high intracellular oxygen concentrations than normal cells or that the cell membrane has a certain mechanism for limiting oxygen transport into the cell to avoid the oxidative damage.