Good evening,
How to avoid evaporation to drying in the wells of cell culture plates in a CO2 incubator (parameters shown in the attached photo)?
The medium evaporated and even some wells dried out in the middle of the plate while we put medium or sterile water in the border wells.
PS: we put a container with distilled water inside.
Could you help us to overcome this problem?
we would be very grateful, thank you.
Hello Aicha Assouab
In cell culture incubators, the relative humidity is often very high. It should ideally be at least 95% in order to prevent the cultures from drying out. The monitor in the pic shows RH% as 94.
This humidity is created by evaporation from the water tank when the heating system is activated. Small to mid-sized incubators use humidity pans to produce humidity through evaporation. Humidity pans produce relative humidity levels between 95-98%. Relative humidity should be homogeneous inside the incubator. The effect of evaporation is counteracted by constantly keeping the air in an almost saturated state via a humidification system.
The incubator door opening may cause fluctuation in humidity inside the incubator. You may measure the amplitude of fluctuation by placing a sensor inside one stacker and testing different opening frequencies. In addition, a homogeneous temperature distribution and temperature constancy over the entire interior has to be maintained. Make sure your incubator is not close to a window where direct sunlight hits it. You need to fill the humidifying pan with sterile distilled water to ½ inch from the top or fill only to the “max” indicator if it is available. Keeping the humidifying pan filled with water is important for good, consistent humidity and best growth conditions for the cells.
Best.
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