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Animal cell cultures : Precautionary measures
(Last revised:
February 28, 2006
)
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respect good microbiological practices, especially those that are aimed at avoiding accidental contamination
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treat
each new culture that is manipulated for the first time in the laboratory
facility as potentially infectious. The use of a biosafety cabinet of
class type II is strongly recommended until the cells have been shown
negative in sterility tests for bacteria (including mycoplasma) and fungi.
Cell cultures from ill-defined sources should be handled under biosafety
level 2 (L2) conditions. If there is a reasonable likelihood of adventitious
agents of higher risk class, the cell line should be handled under the
appropriate containment level until tests have proven safety;
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clean up any culture fluid spills immediately;
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work with one cell line at a time, disinfect the work surfaces between cell lines handling, aliquot growth medium so that the same vessel is not used for more than one cell line;
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avoid pouring actions that are a potential source of cross-contamination;
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if necessary, carry out a quality control of cells demonstrating the absence of likely contaminating pathogens (e.g. PCR, reverse transcriptase detection, electron microscopy studies for observation of retrovirus-like particles, infectivity assays with sensitive cell cultures or indicator cell cultures).
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