Axenic mass cultivation of the free-living soil amoeba,Acanthamoeba castellaniiin a laboratory fermentor

✍ Scribed by Peter H. H. Weekers; John P. H. Wijen; Bart P. Lomans; Godfried D. Vogels

• Book ID: 104757585
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 454 KB
• Volume: 69
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-6072
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00399620

✦ Synopsis

Axenic mass cultivation of Acanthamoeba castellanii in laboratory fermentors (141) yielded after 20 days approximately 3 g cells (wet weight). After a short lag phase amoebal cell numbers increased exponentially to a maximum of 3.5 x 10(5) cells per ml until cell death occurred after 20 days. Optical density and protein concentrations revealed identical patterns. During amoebal growth only 12-19% of the initially added glucose (100 mM) as sole carbon source was used. Large amounts of ammonia (1 g in 10.51 culture volume) were excreted into the medium which subsequently raised the pH from 6.6 to 7.7, and from 6.6 to 6.8 in 2 and 20 mM buffered media, respectively. Growth inhibition and cell death could not be explained by a depletion of glucose or oxygen limitations during growth. The production of ammonia had a growth inhibitory effect, however, the sudden termination of the exponential growth phase and cell death could not be explained by the toxic influence of ammonia only.