Hi guys,

I was wondering what effect would have a slight temperature increase in my cell culture media.

The PID controller of our reactor didn't work as expected and the temperature process value went above the 36.5ºC setpoint for almost three hours, reaching a 44ºC peak.

Media inside the reactor is DMEM (1X) + GlutaMAX (Gibco) supplemented with 10% FBS. I feel FBS should be fine as it is heated inactivated with higher temperatures, but I have no info about degradation of DMEM at these conditions.

After this happened, we went on to measure glucose and noticed a remarkable low reading (4.10g/L) compared to what we normally obtain under normal conditions (approx. 4.40g/L). This is what makes me think the temperature increase might have something to do with the glucose drop.

No cells were being cultured at the moment of both readings, since the reactor hand't been seeded yet, and no signs of contamination were spotted, so cell growth shouldn't be an explanation for this, being only sterile complete media inside the reactor.

Many thanks!