Circumventing the Crabtree effect in cell culture: A systematic review

Area of Science:

• Cellular metabolism
• Mitochondrial function
• Biomedical research techniques

Background:

• Metabolic reprogramming and mitochondrial dysfunction are crucial in physiology and pathology.
• Standard cell culture methods are often compromised by the Crabtree effect, where cultured cells exhibit a glycolytic phenotype.
• This phenomenon challenges the validity of cell culture models for studying cellular metabolism.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive overview of strategies to circumvent the Crabtree effect.
• To critically appraise existing methods for overcoming metabolic artifacts in cell culture.
• To enhance the reliability of cell-based studies on metabolism.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review.
• Critical appraisal of published methodologies.
• Analysis of strategies to mitigate the Crabtree effect in cell culture.

Main Results:

• Identified and categorized various strategies to overcome the Crabtree effect.
• Evaluated the efficacy and limitations of each strategy.
• Highlighted the impact of the Crabtree effect on metabolic research.

Conclusions:

• The Crabtree effect is a significant challenge in cell culture-based metabolic studies.
• Several strategies can mitigate or circumvent the Crabtree effect.
• Careful consideration of experimental design is essential for accurate metabolic research in vitro.