Effect of fetal bovine serum on the hemocytes growth of Helicoverpa armigera, Anagasta kuehniella and Arge ochropus in Ex-cell 400 culture

The use of insect cell lines for producing bio-pesticides, recombinant protein expression or gene delivery is increasing. Hence, the establishment of new cell lines will help to enrich this technology. Therefore, the purpose of this research is preparation of several primary cultures initiated from hemocytes of Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner),Anagasta kuehniella (Zeller) and Arge ochropus (Gmelin). The cultures were incubated in EX-cell 400 medium supplemented with 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% concentrations of fetal bovine serum (FBS) at 28ºC. The concentrations of FBS were chosen on the basis of previous research. Results showed no growth in any of the cell lines when FBS was omitted from the medium. Maximal growth of H. armigerahemocytes was obtained with 15% FBS. There was no further increase in growth as FBS concentration was increased to 20%, Maximal growth of A. kuehniella hemocytes was obtained at 10% FBS. The growth of these cells was significantly lower at 15 and 20% FBS. As the fetal bovine serum concentration increased, A. ochropus hemocytes growth increased.  In conclusion, the current investigation demonstrated the lowest concentration of FBS required for maximal growth of insect cells in vitro.