(noun. /con-FLU-en-see/)
by Chelsea Smith
What does it mean?
Confluency is a term used to describe how much available space for growth is taken up by cells. Researchers can grow cells on surfaces called cell culture plates, and as the cells grow and multiply, they take up more and more space on the plate. To determine confluency, a researcher typically estimates how much of the plate is covered by cells by looking under a microscope. Cells that have completely covered the bottom of the plate are considered 100% confluent, which means there is no more space for new cells to grow. If a small portion of the plate is covered in cells–for example, 20%–the cells will continue to grow and multiply until they fill the space. Determining confluency is important in biology research, as performing experiments on cells that are at extremely low or high confluency can affect the results. For example, some cell types grow better when they can sense other cells nearby, and may grow slowly at very low confluency. On the other hand, cells that are too confluent will often stop dividing. When cells stop dividing they produce a different set of proteins, and this can skew the experiment results.
How do I use it in a sentence?
The technician likes to grow her cells to 70% confluency for the experiment.
Related terms
Cell/tissue culture
Cell Line
Cell Morphology
Media
Passaging
Fields of study in which this word is commonly used:
Cell Biology
