title: Rheology and shear stress of Centaurea calcitrapa cell suspension cultures grown in bioreactor.
abstract: Centaurea calcitrapa suspension cultures were grown either in Erlenmeyer flasks or in a mechanically stirred bioreactor. Its rheological behaviour, when fitted to the Oswald-de Waele model (power law), showed pseudoplastic characteristics in both cases. The flow behaviour index (n) decreased over the course of a growth cycle and the consistency index (K) increased, reached a value of 1.81 N sn m(-2 )run on 2 l bioreactor. Bioreactor cultivation of C. calcitrapa cells at different agitation rates (30, 60, 100 and 250 rpm), highlighted the influence of shear forces on cell viability loss (90-34%) and phenol accumulation (74-140 microg l(-1)), due to increased stirring speeds. Analysis of these results suggests that this cell line is shear-sensitive. An empirical exponential correlation was defined between apparent viscosity and biomass concentration, under the studied conditions, giving the possibility to estimate the prevailing broth regime and to optimize bioreactor design.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Engenharia de Recursos Naturais, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal. sraposo@ualg.pt
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Raposo
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Lima-Costa
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D019149:Bioreactors; D002449:Cell Aggregation; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D048429:Cell Size; D031179:Centaurea / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D007218:Industrial Microbiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D012212:Rheology / Q000379:methods*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014783:Viscosity