It is not trouble to transport cells for such short times. If they are in flasks which have a vented lid, just take them out of the incubator, seal the lid with parafilm and the CO2 will remain long enough for your purposes. As Sven mentioned, temperature is another issue. However, once attached cells will also be quite content at a lower temperature for a bit.

Your main issue may be foaming, if you move the flasks with little medium, turning corners in a car for example, will cause the medium to shift from side to side. This will induce shear on the cells.

The way I most freqently transport monolayers is to fill the flask completely with medium and seal it with parafilm. This method will keep most cells viable for at least a week.

Hello Nelson,

is this the same question like here? http://www.biocompare.com/6-Tissue-Culture-Forums/1913-Portable-CO2-Incubator/ from Charles, is the same text....two years ago.

Portable incubators are avaible from different brands and I don't think that it is a problem for most cells to transport two hours with less concentration of CO2. More important I think is the temperature.

Hi Sven,

Perhaps you can look into anaerobic jars with CO2 generation packs. I believe the packs come at different CO2 generation capacity. There are different size jars and you may be able to borrow from a microbiology department. A candle jar (which is basically an anaerobic jar with a lit candle placed into it and then the lid closed) has a CO2 concentration of 3-5%. No need for expensive packs.

Cheers

Thanks Aniko for the answer, but I don't asked that question ;-)

Sorry Sven and Nelson, I meant to address Nelson.

Cheers

No problem ;-)

It is not trouble to transport cells for such short times. If they are in flasks which have a vented lid, just take them out of the incubator, seal the lid with parafilm and the CO2 will remain long enough for your purposes. As Sven mentioned, temperature is another issue. However, once attached cells will also be quite content at a lower temperature for a bit.

Your main issue may be foaming, if you move the flasks with little medium, turning corners in a car for example, will cause the medium to shift from side to side. This will induce shear on the cells.

The way I most freqently transport monolayers is to fill the flask completely with medium and seal it with parafilm. This method will keep most cells viable for at least a week.

To transport the adherent cells, you should plate them in T-flasks. Let them to adhere and then fill the flask as much as you can with fresh medium (less air in the flask, better for the cells). Put the cap and seal it with Parafilm. Since some air remain anyway in the flask, keep the flask in vertical position, or horizontally but with the cells at the bottom of the flask. If the cells are in suspension, keep them in a Falcon, and seal the cap. Then, try to keep them as warm as you can - put the flask in a towel and then in a plastic bag. You do not need a portable incubator for two -hour trip. You can transport the cells in the way I described even over night. When you open the flask, be careful to not contaminate the cells.

I agree with Anca, I have sent cells overnight in the post using that method and they have arrived safely.

Cells in culture produce acidic products which act to lower the pH of the medium. Most of the media utilize phosphates and the bicarbonate system to buffer the media. The bicarbonate ion can be converted to gaseous carbon dioxide and lost from the medium resulting in a rise in the pH. Carbon dioxide can be maintained by supplying a special gas phase or by sealing the vessel tightly so that the CO2 produced by metabolic processes is retained in the vessel and re-absorbed by the medium.

So filling up the flask completely with media (As martin said to avoid foaming) and sealing the lid tightly with parafilm (to retain the CO2 produced by cells), you will be able to maintain the pH for long time (few days) and transport them safely. You do not need portable incubator for this.

An alternative method is to use a medium which produces sufficient buffering capacity but does not require 5 % CO2. The most commonly utilized alternative to bi-carbonate is HEPES buffer (10 – 25 mM). It does not require CO2 enriched atmosphere to maintain the pH.

So If you have sensitive culture you can use HEPES buffered media, fill the flask completely and seal the lid and transport your cells.

Dear Nelson,

I agree with all the answers, although I rather favour Anca's as I think this will reduce the medium effect washing over the cells and also reduces contamination.

To keep the temperature, after wrapping the flask in towel, I would sandwich it between two heat pads heated up to 37 degrees in the water bath and then placed into an esky. This will keep the temperature steady for a long time. Just make sure that the heat pads fit snugly in the esky.

There's a cheaper way. I don't if this was suggested already but you can use a jar with a candle inside which would deplete the levels of oxygen in the jar leaving carbon dioxide and some other minute gases. I hope this helps.

Or simply add HEPES to 10mM and the pH will be fine for a lot longer.

Have a look at our Cellbox from Cellbox Solutions GmbH.

It's a portable battery powered CO2 Incubator. And should be affordable for every laboratory.

Please contact me if you need any help in the field of live cell transportation.

P.S. We also have international flight permission on our flight box.