Cell culture medium cycling in cultured meat: Key factors and potential strategies

Cultured meat is a promising alternative to animal-derived meat production, as it has the potential to offer a sustainable and ethical source of meat for human consumption. Despite the many advantages of cultured meat, scaling up its production remains a major challenge. Among the key factors that must be addressed for efficient production is high-density cell culture, which poses several obstacles, such as the accumulation of metabolic by-products, including toxic ammonia and the inhibitory effects of lactate. Additionally, the use of expensive growth factors and recombinant proteins limits the cost-effectiveness of cultured meat production. This review provides an overview of methods for reducing the accumulation of metabolic by-products (ammonia and lactate), including genetic engineering, culture strategies, physicochemical adsorption, biocatalytic conversion, and electrochemistry. Immobilization of growth factors by separation and concentration enhances their biological activity, moderate release, and recovery. Additionally, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these methods in the field of cultured meat. The study concludes that adsorption is a promising pathway for the removal of metabolic by-products. However, the development of adsorbents with favorable biocompatibility, high adsorption efficiency, and reusability remains a challenge. The development of cost-effective alternatives to animal-derived sources and media cycling technology to optimize the usage of media components are essential for the progress of cultured meat production.