What is the Difference Between Anchorage Dependent and Anchorage Independent Cells

The key difference between anchorage dependent and anchorage independent cells is that anchorage dependent cells essentially require direct fixation or attachment to a surface for growth and survival, while anchorage independent cells do not require direct attachment to a surface for growth and survival.

A cell is the basic building block of all living things. Cells are of different types and consist of different functions. All cells contain organelles that carry out different functions in the organism. Cells differentiate into various subcategories based on different physiological properties. Anchorage dependent cells and anchorage independent cells are two such categories, where cells are divided with reference to the requirement of fixation to a surface for survival and for growth.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What are Anchorage Dependent Cells
3. What are Anchorage Independent Cells
4. Similarities – Anchorage Dependent and Anchorage Independent Cells
5. Anchorage Dependent vs Anchorage Independent Cells in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Anchorage Dependent vs Anchorage Independent Cells

What are Anchorage Dependent Cells?

Anchorage dependent cell is a type of cell that grows, survives, or functions only when attached to an inert surface. These cells attach to surfaces like glass or plastic. Another term for anchorage dependent cell is substrate-dependent cell. These cells essentially require fixation to a surface for them to grow in vitro. Examples of anchorage dependent cells are epidermal cells and connective tissue cells. These cells are originally cultured from organ tissue.

Anchorage dependent cells are extremely important and have a great interest for different biotechnological applications. These cells play an important role in the production of viruses for vaccine development processes. Biotechnologists use anchorage cells in large quantities in the development of viral vaccines in large reactors using microcarriers.

What are Anchorage Independent Cells?

Anchorage independent cell is a type of cell that has lost the requirement of fixation to a surface. Anchorage independency is essential for a cell for growth, cell division, and spreading. These cells include blood cells and different types of blood cells that circulate in the bloodstream without direct fixation.

Biologists have found out that in vitro transformed cells and many cancer-derived cells have the ability to grow and survive without any fixation or attachment to the extracellular matrix and neighboring cells. In animal models, the term anchorage-independent cells correlate closely with tumorigenicity. Therefore, many researchers study anchorage-independent cells closely in cancer-related research studies.

What are the Similarities Between Anchorage Dependent and Anchorage Independent Cells?

• Anchorage-dependent and anchorage-independent cells are present in living organisms.
• They possess organelles.
• Both types of cells can be cultured in vitro.
• Moreover, both cell types play an important role in research.

What is the Difference Between Anchorage Dependent and Anchorage Independent Cells?

Anchorage dependent cells essentially require direct fixation or attachment to a surface for growth and survival, while anchorage independent cells do not require direct attachment to a surface for growth and survival. Thus, this is the key difference between anchorage dependent and anchorage independent cells. Examples of anchorage dependent cells are epidermal cells and connective tissue cells, while blood cells and cancer cells are anchorage independent cells. Moreover, anchorage dependent cells are mainly used in the production of viral vaccines, while anchorage independent cells are required in cancer cell research studies.

The below infographic presents the differences between anchorage dependent and anchorage independent cells in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Anchorage Dependent vs Anchorage Independent Cells

Anchorage dependent cells and anchorage independent cells are two categories of cells with reference to the requirement of fixation to a surface for survival and for growth. Anchorage dependent cells essentially require direct fixation or attachment to a surface, while anchorage independent cells do not require direct attachment to a surface for growth and survival. Epidermal cells and connective tissue cells are two types of anchorage dependent cells. Blood cells and cancer cells are two types of anchorage independent cells. So, this summarizes the difference between anchorage dependent and anchorage independent cells.

Reference:

1. “Anchorage-Independent Cell Growth.” Encyclopedia of Cancer, pp. 154–154.
2. “Dependent Cell.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Cuticle cross section” By Conall  (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr
2. “Diagram showing cancer cells spreading into the blood stream CRUK 448” By Cancer Research UK uploader – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia