Different passages - (Oct/24/2014 )

Hi,

Can you seed the same cells but at different passages (5 & 6) together into the same flask?

That wouldn't be advisable would it?

If it had been done, should the flask be thrown away?

I would strongly advise you against it. Cells evolve while in culture and may acquire mutations, respond to environment signals etc. - all this could differ between cells from different passages, so you might distort your results this way. I'd throw the flask out.

Tabaluga on Fri Oct 24 18:31:01 2014 said:

I would strongly advise you against it. Cells evolve while in culture and may acquire mutations, respond to environment signals etc. - all this could differ between cells from different passages, so you might distort your results this way. I'd throw the flask out.

All right. I have a follow-up question.

Accidentally, I placed passage 5 cells into a 3 days old same cellline but passage 6 and when I realised what has happened, I aspirated the media and placed new media in. Is the damage already done and I should get rid of the flask anyway?

The problem is, would you trust your results ? In my opinion it's not entirely sure, and although there might not be a lot of cells of the wrong passage in it, you don't know how many and thy could outgrow.... it is already "contaminated", so I'd not use them. But if you are reluctant to throw them, maybe you could ask your supervisor for another opinion. What do you want to do with the cells later ?