What is a CO2 Incubator?

 

Most of us are a little unfamiliar with Co2 incubator and how it actually works. In this post we will help you understand what it’s about and why Co2 is needed in an incubator. The post will also explain how to maintain CO2 Levels and incubator sterilizers.

The atmosphere required to cultivate biological or cell cultures is carefully controlled within CO2 incubators. The word "incubator" has many different meanings, including production of eggs and poultry as well as pharmaceutical and drug research; however the main focus of this article is on incubation of biological materials, namely cells.

Typical laboratory and biological applications are required to maintain the same conditions in the incubator as inside the human body:

·         7.4 pH neutral

·         98.6°F (37°C)

·         90% relative humidity

These three numbers create the optimal conditions for biological cell growth.

Why is CO2 needed in an incubator?

Humans are most comfortable at CO2 levels at or slightly above 400 ppm (0.04%). Which raises the question, why would a CO2 incubator that is used to grow tissue cultures need CO2 levels of 5 - 10%? 

To keep culture cells under optimum conditions, the media they grow in needs to stay at neutral pH (around pH 7). The H2O in the cells can be turned into a carbonic acid (H2CO3) buffer by adding additional CO2. The combination of H2O and CO2 results in bicarbonate (HCO3-) and H2CO3 which keeps the pH neutral, and therefore has been found to affect the growth of biological cells the least. 

Maintaining CO2 Levels

CO2 levels inside a CO2 incubator are measured with accurate optical nondispersive infra-red (NDIR) sensors. There are two concerns when using an NDIR CO2 sensor:

1.       In high-altitude environments, the sensor readings must be adjusted to the change for barometric pressure.

2.       The sensor must be guarded against high humidity. Too much water in the air can result in condensation inside the CO2 sensor which will render the sensor inoperative.

CO2 Incubator Sterilization

Risks of contamination inside a CO2 incubator are primarily around cross contamination from fungi, viruses and bacteria. This can be controlled by conducting sterilizations between cycles. It is important that sterilization with heat or superheated water not come into direct contact with the CO2 sensor. 

For this reason, the CO2 sensor should be integrated into the incubator in such a way that it is not impacted by the sterilization cycle. This can be solved by:

·         Gas sampling CO2 sensor (fixed or handheld) outside the incubator

·         CO2 sensor with heat and moisture-resistant stainless-steel hood

Furthermore, scientists, researchers, and laboratory technicians will be able to ensure less handling and assembly errors with IR sensing because of the integrated temperature and pressure compensation.

Limitations of CO2 Incubators

A growing field of study is the limitations of CO2 incubators as they relate to oxygen levels. Common sense would tell us that since living tissue like human cell cultures thrive in 20.9% oxygen-filled air, that this should be the desired oxygen level inside a cell incubator. Since ambient air is 20.9% oxygen, CO2 incubators need not be sealed from outside air. 

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