| Meningococcal disease is an important cause of death and morbidity throughout the world. Nearly 330,000 cases and 35,000 deaths occur yearly. Neisseria meningitidis, serogroup B strain N.44/89, is prevalent in Brazil. Its outer membrane vesicles (OMV) with iron regulated proteins (IRP) are released to the culture medium and are used as antigen for vaccine production. In order to have knowledge about the kinetic parameters, especially the final OMV concentration values, 20-h batch cultivations were carried out in Catlin medium with iron restriction. Process conditions comprised: 7 L bioreactor, 36ºC, 0.5 atm, overlay air flowrate of 1 L/min, agitation varying from 250 rpm to 850 rpm and dissolved oxygen control set at 10% of saturation condition. Biomass... |
