Modeling Shear Damage to Suspended CHO Cells during Cross-Flow Filtration

A mathematical model is presented for predicting the shear‐induced decrease in live cells occurring over time during tangential flow filtration. The model uses a cell death rate constant ( K) and considers the effects of flow rate, solution viability, and filtration system volumes and dimensions. Single pass and recycle capillary experiments with solutions of high (93%), medium (87%), and low (70%) viability were run, where the maximum laminar shear stress ranged from 10– 300 Pa, to validate the model and determine cell death rate constants. The K values for the suspended CHO cells used in this research ranged from 0.06 to 12.5 s−1. These K values increased with shear stress, as expected, and also as the solution viability decreased.