Electrofusion of osmotically treated cells. High and reproducible yields of hybridoma cells

Influence of pulsing and postpulsing media tonicity on electrotransformation of intact yeast cells

The maximal transformation yield of intact yeast cells in hypotonic medium was obtained by application of nine pulses with a duration of 990 microseconds at 2.5 kV cm-1. Pulsation at the same electrical parameters in isotonic solution did not lead to any transformation and the electropermeability decreased by 50%. The transfer of cells, 1 min after pulsation in hypotonic medium, into media with different tonicity led to an increase of the number of transformed cells, depending on the sorbitol concentration of up to 250 mM. Further augmentation of the tonicity of postpulse medium in the range 330-1000 mM provoked strong decrease of transformation. This effect was present even when cells were resuspended in isotonic medium 30 min after pulsation.

Efficient hybridization of mouse-human cell lines by means of hypo-osmolar electrofusion

The fusion of a mouse-human heteromyeloma with a mouse hybridoma is used as a model to define parameters to generate human hybridomas. Electrofusion of these cells in 300 mosM and 75 mosM solutions showed that strong hypo-osmolar conditions resulted in a dramatic increase in the efficiency of hybridoma formation. In contrast to iso-osmolar electrofusion, a high hybrid yield could be obtained by injection of only a single field pulse. The field strength was adjusted in proportion to the increased size of the cells in hypo-osmolar solutions. Hypo-osmolar electrofusion allowed the generation of approximately 0.45% hybrids at a suspension density of 1.75 X 10(5) mouse-human cells/ml corresponding to an input number of 3.5 X 10(4) mouse-human cells. A further increase in the efficiency of hybridoma formation to about 0.6% was achieved by cell alignment in an alternating field of modulated field strength. Experiments in which the total cell number per fusion chamber was decreased at constant optimum suspension density showed that a further increase in the efficiency of hybridoma formation in hypo-osmolar solution was not possible because of the increasing influence of the heterogeneity of the cell lines with decreasing cell number. The results allow the conclusion that hypo-osmolar electrofusion is a potential tool to enhance successful immortalisation of human B lymphocytes.

Development of microfusion techniques to generate human hybridomas

The rarity of antigen-specific B cells in peripheral blood and lymphoid tissues is a major limitation in the production of human monoclonal antibodies. This has led to a requirement for techniques capable of fusing small numbers of cells and achieving a higher hybridoma formation efficiency than currently is possible. The approach used in these studies to generate human hybridomas is based on the observation that under hypo-osmolar conditions electric field induced cell fusion or electrofusion is facilitated. Electrofusion parameters have been defined in strongly hypo-osmolar solutions which have resulted in a hybridoma formation efficiency greater than 5 X 10(-3) under optimal conditions. Furthermore, this has been accomplished with total input B cells of 1-2 X 10(5). This is a ten-fold reduction in the required number of input B cells and is associated with a hybridoma formation efficiency at least equal to that achieved with a higher input B cell number. An important factor in the development of this microfusion technique appears to be the duration of exposure to the hypo-osmolar solution by B cells to be immortalized. Other parameters which may affect hybridoma yield include the electrical field strength used for cell alignment and membrane breakdown, ratio of human B cells to fusion partner, washing procedure, post-fusion incubation time, and the elimination of toxic molecules.

Facilitated electrofusion of vacuolated x evacuolated oat mesophyll protoplasts in hypo-osmolar media after alignment with an alternating field of modulated strength

Electrofusion of evacuolated and vacuolated oat leaf protoplasts is difficult because of the different size and density of these cells which results in separation of the two fusion partners during dielectrophoresis. The fusion yield of this cell system was considerably enhanced by electrofusion in hypo-osmolar media containing 0.4 M mannitol, 0.1 mM calcium acetate and 0.1% bovine serum albumin. This increase in yield was only achieved if the dielectrophoretically induced membrane contact between the two fusion partners was enhanced by an initial short 'burst' of higher field strength (500 V/cm, peak to peak, for 5 s followed by a reduction of to 90 V/cm, peak to peak, for 20 s, frequency 1 MHz). Due to the high field strength of the alternating field at the beginning of cell chain formation separation of fusion partners of different size and density was mainly avoided. Simultaneously, the short duration of this high field 'burst' avoided the generation of lethal effects in the cell membranes. The subsequent low field strength of the alternating field was sufficient to keep the aligned cells in position. Optimum fusion was induced by a single square pulse of 750 V/cm and 30 musec duration. The time required for rounding up of the heterologous fusion products decreased with decreasing osmolarity. Fusion resulted in a 5.7 +/- 1.2% yield of heterologous fusion products (compared to 0.7% using the conventional electrofusion protocol) as determined by flow cytometric assay. About 50% of the vacuolated oat protoplasts and 20-50% of the heterologous fusion products regenerated their cell walls within 5 days after hypo-osmolar treatment, but no cell divisions could be observed. Evacuolated oat protoplasts died after 2-3 days in culture without any detectable cell wall regeneration.

High yields of stable transformants by hypo-osmolar plasmid electroinjection

Electrotransfection of mouse L cells and macrophages suspended in strongly hypo-osmolar solutions gave high yields of stable transformants which significantly exceeded the clone number obtained under iso-osmolar conditions. The cells survived these extremely low osmolarities for 1 h without any apparent deterioration of cellular or membrane functions. Highest yields were obtained in buffered 75 mosmol solutions containing 30 mM KCl and an appropriate amount of inositol provided that the strength of the breakdown pulse was matched to the dramatic increase in cell volume at low osmolarity. The absolute clone number depended on the post-incubation time in the hypo-osmolar solution after application of a single breakdown pulse at 4 degrees C. The absolute number of transformants was maximum when post-incubation was restricted to 2 min. Towards longer incubation times the absolute number decreased even though the relative clone number was similar. This was because of a corresponding decrease of the number of viable cells. It is conceivable that enhanced DNA uptake in hypo-osmolar solutions is faciliated by an overall slight (and reversible) increase in membrane permeability generated by the osmotically created tension in the membrane of the swollen cells.