Working towards a chemically-defined replacement for hydrolysates

Protein hydrolysates are commonly used in cell culture processes either as a component of a complete medium formulation or as part of a feeding supplement for a fed-batch bioreactor process. Due to the undefined nature of hydrolysates, there is a push to develop a chemically-defined substitute. It is well known that hydrolysates serve a nutritive function as a source of free amino acids, small peptides, carbohydrates, vitamins and many other potential contaminants. They also have been reported to contain bioactive peptides' that could potentially activate specific pathways within the cells. The data presented here are the initial results Of Studies performed to elucidate the essential components of commercially available wheat gluten and meat hydrolysates. Reverse-phase HPLC was used to initially separate the complex mixture into fractions (66 each) containing either classes of components or individual components so they could be subsequently tested in a cell culture system utilizing Chinese Hamster Ovary cells.