Experimental studies from shake flasks to 3 L stirred tank bioreactor of nutrients and oxygen supply conditions to improve the growth of the avian cell line DuckCelt®-T17

BACKGROUND: To produce viral vaccines, avian cell lines are interesting alternatives to replace the egg-derived processes for viruses that do not grow well on mammalian cells. The avian suspension cell line DuckCelt(®)-T17 was previously studied and investigated to produce a live attenuated metapneumovirus (hMPV)/respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza virus vaccines. However, a better understanding of its culture process is necessary for an efficient production of viral particles in bioreactors. RESULTS: The growth and metabolic requirements of the avian cell line DuckCelt(®)-T17 were investigated to improve its cultivation parameters. Several nutrient supplementation strategies were studied in shake flasks highlighting the interest of (i) replacing L-glutamine by glutamax as main nutrient or (ii) adding these two nutrients in the serum-free growth medium in a fed-batch strategy. The scale-up in a 3 L bioreactor was successful for these types of strategies confirming their efficiencies in improving the cells’ growth and viability. Moreover, a perfusion feasibility test allowed to achieve up to ~ 3 times the maximum number of viable cells obtained with the batch or fed-batch strategies. Finally, a strong oxygen supply – 50% dO(2) – had a deleterious effect on DuckCelt(®)-T17 viability, certainly because of the greater hydrodynamic stress imposed. CONCLUSIONS: The culture process using glutamax supplementation with a batch or a fed-batch strategy was successfully scaled-up to 3 L bioreactor. In addition, perfusion appeared as a very promising culture process for subsequent continuous virus harvesting. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13036-023-00349-5.