What are the benefits and disadvantages of using heat-inactivated FBS in cell culture?
- Heating inactivates complement. Active complement can participate in cytolytic events, contract smooth muscle, release histamine from mast cells and platelets, and activate lymphocytic and macrophage cells. Applications where heat-inactivated serum is recommended include immunological studies and culturing of embryonic stem cells (ESCs), insect cells, and smooth muscle cells.
- Heat inactivation helps to achieve bottle-to-bottle and lot-to-lot stability by neutralizing many factors that can vary largely from lot to lot.
- There aren't necessarily disadvantages to heat inactivation of FBS, but there is some evidence that suggests there may be no added benefit to it unless you are carrying out immune studies.
Note: Heat inactivation is performed in a 56 degrees C water bath for 30 min with swirling every 10 min or so for heat distribution and to lower the degree of protein aggregation/flocculant precipitation. Note: If the time or temperature is exceeded, the serum may thicken to a gel. If this occurs, the serum is no longer usable. Unnecessary heat inactivation can take up time and potentially lead to wasted reagents if a mistake is made during the protocol1.
1. Pellerin, et al., Bioengineering, published in 2021.
Find additional tips, troubleshooting help, and resources within our Mammalian Cell Culture Basics Support Center.
Why do you use a cell-based assay instead of HPLC to determine the tetracycline concentration/presence in Fetal Bovine Serum, Tet system approved?
While competitors may use HPLC or other assays to determine the presence of tetracycline, we developed a cell-based assay because we wanted to verify that the tetracycline present, if any, in this product would not be enough to alter the experiment. The only way to confirm this is to actually demonstrate the efficacy of the serum in a dish with cells (cell-based assay).
Find additional tips, troubleshooting help, and resources within our Cell Culture Support Center.
How is Fetal Bovine Serum, Tet system approved verified to be tetracycline-free?
Fetal Bovine Serum, Tet system approved is not tetracycline-free, and no serum can be absolutely confirmed to be tetracycline-free without altering the performance of the product. We developed a cell-based assay to confirm that tetracycline, if present, is not in high enough concentrations to alter Tet experiments.
Find additional tips, troubleshooting help, and resources within our Cell Culture Support Center.
Do you offer Fetal Bovine Serum, Tet system approved that has already been heat inactivated?
Sorry, we do not offer Fetal Bovine Serum, Tet system approved that has already been heat inactivated.
Find additional tips, troubleshooting help, and resources within our Cell Culture Support Center.
Is it normal to have precipitation in Fetal Bovine Serum, Tet system approved?
Since our sera are not pre-aged before filtration, turbidity or flocculent debris may develop upon thawing or storage. This flocculence is a normal characteristic of the serum and does not adversely affect performance of the serum.
Find additional tips, troubleshooting help, and resources within our Cell Culture Support Center.
