Albumin and mammalian cell culture: implications for biotechnology applications

Albumin has a long historical involvement in design of media for the successful culture of mammalian cells, in both the research and commercial fields. The potential application of albumins, bovine or human serum albumin, for cell culture is a by-product of the physico-chemical, biochemical and cell-specific properties of the molecule. In this review an analysis of these features of albumin leads to a consideration of the extracellular and intracellular actions of the molecule, and importantly the role of its interactions with numerous ligands or bioactive factors that influence the growth of cells in culture: these include hormones, growth factors, lipids, amino acids, metal ions, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species to name a few. The interaction of albumin with the cell in relation to these co-factors has a potential impact on metabolic and biosynthetic activity, cell proliferation and survival. Application of this knowledge to improve the performance in manufacturing biotechnology and in the emerging uses of cell culture for tissue engineering and stem cell derived therapies is an important prospect

Conduct Disorder

Decades of research has shown that youths with conduct disorder (CD) represent a highly heterogeneous population. Over the past 20 years, most of the research and clinical work have focused on two sub-typing approaches to characterize the heterogeneity within CD: (1) the age of onset distinction introduced in DSM-IV and (2) the presence of callous-unemotional traits included as the ``limited prosocial emotion'' specifier within DSM-5. Considering these sub-typing approaches to characterize youths with CD, this chapter selectively reviews the literature on the prevalence and diagnosis of CD, as well as the evidence base on the neurobiological correlates of the disorder identified through genetics, epigenetics, autonomic nervous system responsivity, levels of neurotransmitters, neuropsychological performance, and structural and functional neuroimaging. Next, we highlight the pressing need to further investigate females and the role of sex differences in this population. We conclude the chapter with a discussion of clinical interventions and the long-term outcomes associated with the disorder