Application of Division Arrest Technology to Cell-Based HTS: Comparison with Frozen and Fresh Cells

Cell-based functional assays are becoming popular in many HTS laboratories because of recent advances in detection and automation technologies. However, the supply of large amounts of live cells with consistent cellular response for day-to-day screening operations over several days/weeks is a tremendous challenge. The high cost of cell culture, labor-intensive nature of the work, and inherent variability in cellular responses from time to time tend to be prohibitive for extensive applications of cell-based assays in HTS. We therefore tested division-arrested cells that were prepared in a single batch and frozen at –80°C before use in several cell-based assays and in a robotic screening campaign. Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing a Gq-coupled receptor were analyzed for the agonist-induced intracellular Ca²⁺ response measured on a fluorescent imaging plate reader. In this case, the division-arrested cells showed consistent agonist-induced intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration response as reflected by signal-to-basal ratio and EC₅₀ even 48 h after cell plating. In comparison, the responses from untreated frozen cells and fresh cells declined significantly ∼30 h after cell plating. In other cell-based assays tested (cyclic AMP assay, reporter gene beta-lactamase assay, and ion-channel assay), the division-arrested cells performed as well as frozen, or fresh cells. We thus conclude that the use of alternate strategies such as frozen cells or division-arrested cells may alleviate the need for several batches of cell plating each day during HTS while maintaining the desired robotic throughput and assay quality.