Case Studies Exemplifying the Transition to Animal Component-free Cell Culture
(2022) In Alternatives to Laboratory Animals 50(5). p.330-338- Abstract
Cell culture techniques are strongly connected with modern scientific laboratories and production facilities. Thus, choosing the most suitable medium for the cells involved is vital, not only directly to optimise cell viability but also indirectly to maximise the reliability of the experiments performed with the cells. Fetal bovine or calf serum (FBS or FCS, respectively) is the most commonly used cell culture medium supplement, providing various nutritional factors and macromolecules essential for cell growth. Yet, the use of FBS encompasses a number of disadvantages. Scientifically, one of the most severe disadvantages is the lot-to-lot variability of animal sera that hampers reproducibility. Therefore, transitioning from the use of... (More)
Cell culture techniques are strongly connected with modern scientific laboratories and production facilities. Thus, choosing the most suitable medium for the cells involved is vital, not only directly to optimise cell viability but also indirectly to maximise the reliability of the experiments performed with the cells. Fetal bovine or calf serum (FBS or FCS, respectively) is the most commonly used cell culture medium supplement, providing various nutritional factors and macromolecules essential for cell growth. Yet, the use of FBS encompasses a number of disadvantages. Scientifically, one of the most severe disadvantages is the lot-to-lot variability of animal sera that hampers reproducibility. Therefore, transitioning from the use of these ill-defined, component-variable, inconsistent, xenogenic, ethically questionable and even potentially infectious media supplements, is key to achieving better data reproducibility and thus better science. To demonstrate that the transition to animal component-free cell culture is possible and achievable, we highlight three different scenarios and provide some case studies of each, namely: i) the adaptation of single cell lines to animal component-free culture conditions by the replacement of FBS and trypsin; ii) the adaptation of multicellular models to FBS-free conditions; and (iii) the replacement of FBS with human platelet lysate (hPL) for the generation of primary stem/stromal cell cultures for clinical purposes. By highlighting these examples, we aim to foster and support the global movement towards more consistent science and provide evidence that it is indeed possible to step out of the currently smouldering scientific reproducibility crisis.
(Less)
- author
- Weber, Tilo ; Wiest, Joachim ; Oredsson, Stina LU and Bieback, Karen
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-09
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- animal component-free, cell cultures, chemically defined medium, FBS-free, fetal bovine serum, human platelet lysate, multicellular models, reproducibility crisis, transition, xeno-free
- in
- Alternatives to Laboratory Animals
- volume
- 50
- issue
- 5
- pages
- 9 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:35983799
- scopus:85135029330
- ISSN
- 0261-1929
- DOI
- 10.1177/02611929221117999
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 935d0e77-0a55-4d15-b4b3-766c5dc7373b
- date added to LUP
- 2022-12-29 14:37:00
- date last changed
- 2024-04-18 19:52:17
@article{935d0e77-0a55-4d15-b4b3-766c5dc7373b,
abstract = {{<p>Cell culture techniques are strongly connected with modern scientific laboratories and production facilities. Thus, choosing the most suitable medium for the cells involved is vital, not only directly to optimise cell viability but also indirectly to maximise the reliability of the experiments performed with the cells. Fetal bovine or calf serum (FBS or FCS, respectively) is the most commonly used cell culture medium supplement, providing various nutritional factors and macromolecules essential for cell growth. Yet, the use of FBS encompasses a number of disadvantages. Scientifically, one of the most severe disadvantages is the lot-to-lot variability of animal sera that hampers reproducibility. Therefore, transitioning from the use of these ill-defined, component-variable, inconsistent, xenogenic, ethically questionable and even potentially infectious media supplements, is key to achieving better data reproducibility and thus better science. To demonstrate that the transition to animal component-free cell culture is possible and achievable, we highlight three different scenarios and provide some case studies of each, namely: i) the adaptation of single cell lines to animal component-free culture conditions by the replacement of FBS and trypsin; ii) the adaptation of multicellular models to FBS-free conditions; and (iii) the replacement of FBS with human platelet lysate (hPL) for the generation of primary stem/stromal cell cultures for clinical purposes. By highlighting these examples, we aim to foster and support the global movement towards more consistent science and provide evidence that it is indeed possible to step out of the currently smouldering scientific reproducibility crisis.</p>}},
author = {{Weber, Tilo and Wiest, Joachim and Oredsson, Stina and Bieback, Karen}},
issn = {{0261-1929}},
keywords = {{animal component-free; cell cultures; chemically defined medium; FBS-free; fetal bovine serum; human platelet lysate; multicellular models; reproducibility crisis; transition; xeno-free}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{5}},
pages = {{330--338}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Alternatives to Laboratory Animals}},
title = {{Case Studies Exemplifying the Transition to Animal Component-free Cell Culture}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/02611929221117999}},
doi = {{10.1177/02611929221117999}},
volume = {{50}},
year = {{2022}},
}