Use of process data to assess chromatographic performance in production-scale protein purification columns.

Transition analysis was performed on production-scale chromatography data in order to monitor column performance. Analysis of over 300 transitions from several different chromatography operations demonstrated the utility of the techniques presented. Several of the transitions analyzed occurred on columns with known integrity breaches. The techniques proved sensitive for detection of these breaches. Seven transition calculations are presented, which were combined to produce a single overall integrity value for each column. In addition, principal components analysis (PCA) was used to detect shifts in the transition pattern, including those attributed to integrity breaches. Besides detection of integrity breaches, transition analysis proved useful in monitoring column efficiency over multiple column uses.

Chemometric evaluation of on-line high-pressure liquid chromatography in mammalian cell cultures: analysis of amino acids and glucose.

An on-line high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) system capable of measuring amino acids and carbohydrates was used to study metabolism in mammalian cell culture systems. The HPLC method utilized anion-exchange chromatography followed by integrated pulsed amperometric detection. The method is capable of measuring 19 amino acids plus glucose with a complete method time of 65 min. In actual cell cultures, the method was shown to be useful for monitoring 17 amino acids plus glucose. The two amino acids that were not accurately monitored were arginine and lysine, possibly due to their elution near the void volume of the column. The HPLC system was used to study variability in metabolism across different cell culture processes, as well as the effect of glucose and glutamine limitation on a single cell culture process. Chemometric analysis was used to draw statistically meaningful conclusions from the highly correlated, multivariate data set that resulted from these experiments. Using chemometrics, variation between processes was linked to differences in uptake rates of seven amino acids. Similarly, lactate concentration, cell density, and aspartate uptake rate were linked to glucose and glutamine limitation. The effect of nutrient limitation on glutamate, alanine, and ammonium was also considered.