Shear stress in suspension culture was investigated as a possible manipulative parameter for the control of glycosylation of the recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator protein (r-tPA) produced by recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell culture, grown in protein-free media. Resulting fractions of partially glycosylated, Type II, and fully glycosylated, Type I, r-tPA protein were monitored as a direct function of the shear characteristics of the culture environment. The shear-induced response of CHO culture to levels of low shear stress, where exponential growth was not obtained, and to higher levels of shear stress, which resulted in extensive cell death, were examined through manipulation of the bioreactor stirring velocity. Both apparent and intrinsic cell growth, metabolite consumption, byproduct and r-tPA production, and r-tPA glycosylation, from a variable site-occupancy standpoint, were monitored throughout. Kinetic analyses revealed a shear-stress-induced alteration of cellular homeostasis resulting in a nonlinear dependency of metabolic yield coefficients and an intrinsic cell lysis kinetic constant on shear stress. Damaging levels of shear stress were used to investigate the shear dependence of cell death and lysis, as well as the effects on the intrinsic growth rate of the culture. Kinetic models were also developed on the basis of the intrinsic state of the culture and compared to traditional models. Total r-tPA production was maximized under moderate shear conditions, as was the viable CHO cell density of the culture. However, Type H r-tPA production and the fraction of Type H glycoform production ratio was maximized under damaging levels of shear stress. Analyses of biomass production yield coefficients coupled with a plug-flow reactor model of glycan addition in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) were used to propose an overall mechanism of decreased r-tPA protein site-occupancy glycosylation with increasing shear stress. Decreased residence time of r-tPA in the ER as a result of increased protein synthesis related to shear protection mechanisms is proposed to limit contact of site Asn184 with the membrane-bound oligosaccharyltransferase enzyme in the ER.