ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an elements that allow a better understanding of how a process producing a biopharmaceutical evolves and how this evolution can be mathematically estimated, using basic models. Kinetics deals with the rate changing of some parameters over time – such as consumption of reagents, formation of products and heat generation – in a process. Cell mass can be quantified in several ways, each of which has advantages and disadvantages, i.e. depending on the growth medium and cell type, the most appropriate methodology should be established. In the case of animal cell cultivation the method of cell counting is used in a Neubauer chamber in which the number of cells occupying the whole volume of the chamber is counted by an optical microscope. Monitoring the substrate concentration is essential to assess cell metabolism. Kinetics is an important study of a bioprocess, which allows a more complete understanding of what occurs in a bioreactor.
