title: Oxidative stress under ambient and physiological oxygen tension in tissue culture.
abstract: Oxygen (O2) levels range from 2-9%in vivo. However, cell culture experiments are performed at atmospheric O2levels (21%). Oxidative stress due to generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells cultured at higher than physiological levels is implicated in multitude of deleterious effects including DNA damage, genomic instability and senescence. In addition, oxidative stress activates redox sensitive transcription factors related to inflammatory signaling and apoptotic signaling. Furthermore, several chromatin-modifying enzymes are affected by ROS, potentially impacting epigenetic regulation of gene expression. While primary cells are cultured at lower O2levels due to their inability to grow at higher O2, the immortalized cells, which display no such apparent growth difficulties, are typically cultured at 21% O2. This review will provide an overview of issues associated with increased oxygen levels inin vitrocell culture and point out the benefits of using lower levels of oxygen tension even for immortalized cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY 10987.
authors.forename: Lakshmanan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jagannathan
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY 10987.
authors.forename: Suresh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cuddapah
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Tuxedo, NY 10987.
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Costa
keywords: Hypoxia; Immortalized cells; Oxidative stress; Oxygen tension; Primary cells; Reactive oxygen species