Glucose diffusivity in cell culture medium

• Glucose diffusivity in cell culture media (CCM) and water are determined.
• Diaphragm cell method (DCM) is used to investigate glucose diffusion coefficient.
• Glucose diffusivity in CCM is smaller due to its larger viscosity.
• Good agreement of diffusivity values from experiments and Stokes–Einstein equation.

The diaphragm cell method (DCM) was applied to determine the self-diffusion of glucose in cell culture media (CCM) and water (reference fluid). For this purpose, a diffusion cell based on the DCM principle was constructed and the cell was calibrated with ethanol prior to carrying out the diffusion experiments. The results show that the diffusion coefficients of glucose in CCM are significantly smaller as compared to those for water which are due to the larger dynamic viscosity of CCM. This may also account for the presence of extra components and difference in fluid properties of CCM. The diffusivity values obtained from the present study are compared to values estimated from Stokes–Einstein equation and it appears that the agreement is fairly good.

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