Many requirements for cell culture quality standards are not defined in detail and are thus performed differently between laboratories and sometimes even within the same laboratory. Implementation of standardized laboratory practice protocols contributes to the establishment of comparable parameters for high reproducibility, independent of the person performing the experiments. Aiming at a consensus among scientists, guidelines for Good Cell Culture Practice comprising different important cell culture topics have been developed [1, 2, 3]
These guidelines cover the important aspects that should be kept in mind to increase the inter-laboratory comparability of in vitro studies:
- Characterization and safeguarding of essential characteristics of the used cell lines.
- Quality assurance for consistency, traceability and reproducibility.
- Recording and scientific reporting of data.
- Education and training of personnel in basic cell culture practice, special procedures and specific safety issues.
- Safety and ethical issues.