Efficient Generation of Stable Antibody Forming Hybridoma Cells by Electrofusion

A variety of modified electrofusion protocols designed to improve the efficiency of hybridoma production have recently appeared in the literature. We undertook to maximize the number of antibody secreting murine hybridomas by optimizing the temperature and fusion strength parameters of the conventional electrofusion technique. Anti-DNP secreting hybridomas were generated by fusing SP2/0 to immunized mouse splenic lymphocytes using an unmodified electrofusion protocol consisting of washing in a weakly conducting sorbitol fusion medium supplemented with bovine serum albumin, calcium and magnesium ions. This was followed by dielectrophoretic alignment and application of 3 short duration, high intensity field pulses in helical chambers. Optimal efficiencies of hybridomas were generated by the application of 2000 V/cm pulses at 25° c (2.45 hybridomas x 10-4 splenocytes) and as many as 63% of resulting hybridomas secreted anti-DNP monoclonal antibodies, the majority of which were IgG's. These data show that modification of the electrofusion protocol by pretreatment of fusion partners with proteolytic enzymes or the use of antigen bridging is not required for the successful and efficient production of specific monoclonal antibodies by electrofusion.