Abstract
Although the evidence is overwhelming that ambient oxygen is at least somewhat damaging to most normal cells in culture, the expense and effort involved has resulted in few laboratories growing their cells under physiological oxygen conditions. We here describe how to produce, from commercially available plastic wide-mouth jars, very simple gas-tight containers that can be flushed with prepared gas mixtures to produce low-oxygen environments for standard cell culture. This permits any laboratory to easily try the effects of physiological oxygen on their system without the need for dedicated incubators and substantial monetary investments.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Guyton, A.C. & Hall, E. Transport of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood and bodily fluids. in Textbook of Medical Physiology 513–523 (Saunders, Philadelphia, 1966).
Packer, L. & Fuehr, K. Low oxygen concentration extends the lifespan of cultured human diploid cells. Nature 267, 423–425 (1977).
Sherr, C.J. & DePinho, R.A. Cellular senescence: mitotic clock or culture shock? Cell 102, 407–410 (2000).
Wright, W.E. & Shay, J.W. Telomere dynamics in cancer progression and prevention: fundamental differences in human and mouse telomere biology. Nat. Med. 6, 849–851 (2000).
Parrinello, S. et al. Oxygen sensitivity severely limits the replicative lifespan of murine fibroblasts. Nat. Cell Biol. 5, 741–747 (2003).
Forsyth, N.R. et al. Developmental differences in the immortalization of lung fibroblasts by telomerase. Aging Cell 2, 235–243 (2003).
Allen, C.B., Schneider, B.K. & White, C.W. Limitations to oxygen diffusion and equilibration in in vitro cell exposure systems in hyperoxia and hypoxia. Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell Mol. Physiol. 281, L1021–L1037 (2001).
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by AG01228 from to National Institute on Aging.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wright, W., Shay, J. Inexpensive low-oxygen incubators. Nat Protoc 1, 2088–2090 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2006.374
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2006.374
This article is cited by
-
APC controls Wnt-induced β-catenin destruction complex recruitment in human colonocytes
Scientific Reports (2020)
-
Thyroid Transcription Factor 1 Reprograms Angiogenic Activities of Secretome
Scientific Reports (2016)
-
Robust bioengineered 3D functional human intestinal epithelium
Scientific Reports (2015)
-
Mesenchymal precursor cells maintain the differentiation and proliferation potentials of breast epithelial cells
Breast Cancer Research (2014)
-
Immortalized myogenic cells from congenital muscular dystrophy type1A patients recapitulate aberrant caspase activation in pathogenesis: a new tool for MDC1A research
Skeletal Muscle (2013)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.