Monthly Archives: March 2018
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- March 14, 2018
For decades, Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) has been a vital supplement for the successful culture of a diverse range of cell types. FBS is an undefined, complex source of growth factors, hormones, lipids, attachment factors, and trace elements. In addition, it neutralizes harmful substances in the culture media. Despite its utility, many scientists are trying to reduce or replace animal serum in culture media due to ethical concerns, rising costs, batch variability, and concerns over infectious agents. To this end, public and commercial efforts have focused on developing serum replacement products, some of which may be successful for cell lines. For cells with more complex nutritional requirements, such as primary cells, these products cannot yet support cell growth and viability as well as FBS. Attempts to replace serum in primary cell culture continue today.
While researchers typically use classical or nutrient media supplemented
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