Evaluation of serum- and animal protein-free media for the production of infectious bronchitis virus (M41) strain in a continuous cell line

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is produced in vitro using specific pathogen free chicken embryos, primary chicken kidney cells (CKC) and/or tracheal organ culture (TOC). Regulatory authorities in Europe (EMEA) and in. the United States (FDA) have encouraged biological manufactures to reduce or eliminate the use of live animals and/or products of animal origin in biological manufacturing processes. In this paper, a stable chicken embryo-related (CER) cell line was adapted and maintained in serum free (SF) or animal protein free (APF) medium after a direct switch of the medium. The most suitable media were Ex Cell 520 and Ex Cell 302. CER monolayers adapted to SF or APF were infected with IBV (M-41 strain) in agitated suspended culture and the IBV titre obtained 48 h post infection was 2.8 x 10(4) PFU/ml in both cases. Thus, propagation of CER cells and culture of IBV can be performed without the use of animal serum or animal protein.