《The role and application of concentration fetal bovine serum in cell culture》

   Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) is a commonly used additive in cell culture. It contains abundant growth factors, hormones, proteins and trace elements, which have a significant impact on cell growth and functional maintenance. High concentration fetal bovine serum has its specific role and application in cell culture.

Part.01

The role of high concentration fetal bovine serum

1. Provide rich nutrients

High concentrations of fetal bovine serum provide sufficient nutrients, including growth factors, hormones, proteins and trace elements, which help cells maintain good growth and promote cell division and proliferation.

2. Improve cell survival

Under suitable culture conditions, high concentration of fetal bovine serum can significantly improve the survival rate of cells, which is particularly important for some experiments or cell lines with high survival requirements, especially in cell passage or long-term culture.

3. Enhance cell tolerance

High concentration of fetal bovine serum can improve the tolerance of cells to environmental changes, such as temperature changes, pH changes and other stress factors, so that cells can better adapt to changes in culture conditions and maintain high activity and stability.

4. Promote cell differentiation

In some studies that need to promote cell differentiation, such as nerve cell differentiation experiments, high concentrations of fetal bovine serum can be used as an inducer to induce stem cells to differentiate into specific cell types, such as nerve cells.

Part.02

Application scenario of high concentration fetal bovine serum

1. Primary cell culture

Primary cells (cells directly isolated from tissues) usually have a high dependence on serum, and the use of high concentration of fetal bovine serum can improve the survival rate and growth rate of primary cells during primary cell culture and passage.

2. Stem cell culture

Stem cells, including embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells, have high requirements for culture environment. High concentrations of fetal bovine serum can provide essential growth factors and nutrients that promote self-renewal and differentiation of stem cells.

3. Tumor cell culture

Some tumor cell lines, such as HeLa cells, need to be cultured with high concentrations of fetal bovine serum. These cells have high nutritional requirements, and high concentration of fetal bovine serum can provide sufficient nutrients and growth factors to promote their rapid proliferation.

4. Virus infection model

When establishing virus infection model, the use of high concentration fetal bovine serum can increase the infection rate of cells to virus. It is easier for viruses to enter cells in a high-concentration serum environment, which is helpful to study the infection and replication mechanism of viruses.

5. Induction of cell differentiation

In the process of inducing cell differentiation, high concentrations of fetal bovine serum can provide more signaling molecules that help cells differentiate into specific cell types.

6. Cytotoxicity test

When conducting cytotoxicity tests, high concentrations of fetal bovine serum can provide a stable cell growth environment and ensure the accuracy of test results.

7. Cell cryopreservation and resuscitation

In the process of cell cryopreservation and recovery, high concentration of fetal bovine serum can protect cells from freeze-thaw damage and improve cell survival rate.

Part.03

When using high concentration fetal bovine serum, the following points should be noted

01 Cost consideration

High concentrations of fetal bovine serum have a higher cost and need to be reasonably selected according to the size and budget of the experiment.

02 Batch Consistency

There may be differences between batches of fetal bovine serum, and batch testing is required to ensure experimental consistency.

03 Alternative Exploration

Due to ethical and standardization issues with the use of animal serum, researchers are also exploring alternatives to serum, such as serum-free culture-medium, vegetable serum, etc.

High concentration of fetal bovine serum plays an important role in cell culture, not only providing rich nutrients, but also enhancing cell survival and tolerance, promoting cell differentiation, and playing a key role in specific research and application scenarios.