SoloHill® Microcarriers
Animal Protein-Coated and Animal Component-Free Microcarriers
Meeting market demands is a constant challenge in bioprocessing and often requires improvements to cell culture productivity. Spherical microcarriers support higher cell growth by providing a high surface-to-volume ratio. SoloHill® Microcarriers promote excellent anchorage-dependent cell line attachment, growth and have been used to produce animal and human health products for over 30 years. They fit into any process involving adherent cells and are an excellent choice for scaling up projects with limited process development timelines and capital investment.
Microcarriers – Find the Right Solution
SoloHill® Animal Component-Free Microcarriers
Sartorius offers four types of high-performing certified animal component-free SoloHill® microcarriers for researchers and industrials who require a completely serum-free media and animal product-free process. The beads — made of a solid core matrix — support the robust growth of anchorage-dependent cells. Surface charge further enhances cell attachment.
Hillex® II | Plastic | Plastic Plus | Star-Plus | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Description | Modified Polystyrene | Cross-linked Polystyrene | Cross-linked Polystyrene | Cross-linked Polystyrene | |
Surface Charge | Yes, Cationic charged | No | Yes, Cationic-charged | Yes | |
Part Number Prefix | H-170 | P-221 | P-215 | PP-221 | SP-221 |
Size Range | 150 – 210 µm | 125-212 µm | 90-150 µm | 125 - 212 µm | 125 - 212 µm |
Specific Gravity | 1.080 - 1.150 | 1.022 - 1.030 | 1.022 - 1.030 | 1.022 - 1.030 | 1.020 - 1.035 |
Nominal Surface Area | 515 cm2 | 360 cm2 | 480 cm2 | 360 cm2 | 360 cm2 |
SoloHill® Animal Protein-Containing Microcarriers
Animal collagen has proved to be a useful promoter of cell attachment and growth in monolayer cultures of adherent cell lines. SoloHill® animal protein containing microcarriers can be easily moved between collagen-based monolayers, more space-efficient 3D cultures and are ideal for cell attachment kinetics across a wide variety of tested cell lines.
Collagen | FACT III | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Description | Cross-linked Polystyrene | Cross-linked Polystyrene | ||
Coating | Type 1 porcine collagen | Surface modified Type 1 porcine collagen | ||
Surface Charge | No | Yes, Cationic-charged | ||
Part Number Prefix | C-215 | C-221 | C-421 | F-221 |
Size Range | 90 - 150 µm | 125 - 212 µm | 125 - 212 µm | 125 - 212 µm |
Specific Gravity | 1.022 - 1.030 | 1.022 - 1.030 | 1.034 - 1.046 | 1.022 - 1.030 |
Nominal Surface Area | 480 cm2 | 360 cm2 | 360 cm2 | 360 cm2 |
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Animal Component-Free Microcarriers
Hillex® II Microcarriers
The cationic amine-modified microporous surface of the Hillex® II microcarriers with polystyrene core improves cell attraction and attachment without affecting cell harvest efficiency.
Plastic
Compared to porous microcarriers, styrene copolymer microcarriers are constructed from solid non-toxic plastic which prevents absorption of toxic byproducts and makes harvesting simple with cell viabilities typically greater than 95%. The plastic beads allow for easy process transfer out of traditional styrene labware methods such as roller bottles and monolayers.
Plastic Plus
Incorporated with an electric charge, the Plastic Plus microcarriers strengthen cell attraction and attachment. Like the non-toxic Plastic microcarriers, Plastic Plus are solidly constructed from styrene copolymer and harvest cell viabilities are typically greater than 95%.
Star-Plus
Star-Plus microcarriers are positively charged, rigid, spherical and animal protein-free. They foster quick cell attachment and excellent growth of multiple cell types under a variety of environmental conditions, making them ideal for incorporation into single-use manufacturing processes. Each manufactured lot of Star-Plus microcarriers is performance-tested for cell attachment and growth.
Animal Protein-Coated Microcarriers
Complete Your Process With Comprehensive Solutions
Learn More About Microcarriers
SoloHill® Microcarriers
Microcarrier | Master File Number |
|---|---|
Hillex® | 27283 |
Plastic | 27282 |
Plastic Plus | 27281 |
Star Plus | 27284 |
Collagen | 26999 |
FACT III | 27280 |
Microcarriers are widely used to promote the growth of anchorage-dependent cells. SoloHill® microcarriers have proven efficiency in various industries such as:
- Veterinary vaccine with animal cell lines
- Advanced therapy with stem cells
FDA-licensed human therapeutics | USDA-licensed animal vaccines |
|---|---|
Thyroid cancer diagnostic | Equine influenza |
Thyroid cancer therapy | Canine parvovirus |
Beta interferon – MS indication | Feline leukemia and many others |
Cell Line | Description | Star Plus | Plastic & Plastic-Plus | Collagen- Coated | Charged Collagen- Coated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
VERO | Monkey kidney |
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CEF | Chick embryo fibroblast |
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ST | Swine testes | ||||
BT | Bovine turbinate | ||||
P4RSF | Rabbit skin fibroblast | ||||
MRC-5 | Human diploid fibroblast | ||||
KB | Human epithelial carcinoma | ||||
HFF | Human foreskin fibroblast | ||||
UMSCC | Human squamous carcinoma | ||||
MDBK | Madin-Darby bovine kidney | ||||
CHO | Chinese hamster ovary | ||||
MDCK | Madin-Darby canine kidney | ||||
hMSC | Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells |
FAQs - Microcarriers
Microcarriers are support matrices that enable the culture of adherent cells in bioreactors. Rather than growing on a flat surface, cells are cultivated on the surface of small spherical beads (microcarriers), each carrying several hundred cells, significantly increasing the cell expansion capacity. Microcarrier-based cell culture systems promote higher cell yields and are relatively flexible as they can be integrated into existing bioprocess systems such as stirred bioreactors and spinner flasks.
Microcarriers are microporous beads, typically less than 500 μm in diameter, with a surface that promotes efficient attachment and spreading of cells. Microcarrier beads can support the production of significant amounts of cells due to their large surface area. Therefore, they are a convenient solution for producing vaccines and other biologics. They were one of the first methods used for supporting large-scale mammalian cell culture.
