Are nonessential amino acids not so redundant for Chinese hamster ovary cell lines

Abstract

The understanding of the nutritional requirements for Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and other immortalized cell lines was an early milestone in developing cell culture media. A key aspect of these early studies was defining those amino acids termed ‘essen tial’ for survival and growth of different cell lines. However, the amino acids essential for growth of cells in culture differ from those defined as essential in biochemistry texts.