title: Making informed choices: medium, serum, and serum-free medium. How to choose the appropriate medium and culture system for the model you wish to create.
abstract: Complex nutrient mixtures, which are usually called "media," are almost always supplemented with serum, with another complex biological fluid (e.g., milk, embryo extracts, and plasma), or with a defined mixture of hormones and growth factors. The choice of medium and supplements can have a major impact on the growth, function, and even phenotypic and genetic stability of cells in vitro. This choice thus becomes an important part of developing a useful and meaningful in vitro model system. This chapter defines the various roles that the medium plays in supporting cell function and outlines a method for selecting and optimizing medium in growing the cell of choice.
authors.affiliation: Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, California 94080, USA.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Mather
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D003470:Culture Media / Q000592:standards; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D011786:Quality Control; D012709:Serum Albumin
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D012709:Serum Albumin