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Other Classic Media

Ames' Medium

The retina is an important in vitro model for the central nervous system. It is more readily accessible than most nervous tissue and is strong enough to remain intact during manipulations. The retina of the rabbit commonly contains no penetrating blood vessels, but is nurtured by diffusion from capillary networks on either side. For this reason, the tissue will survive and functions without circulating blood, as long as it is bathed in a medium that closely resembles in vivo conditions.

Ames' medium was formulated to support retinal tissue in relatively short-term culture. Rabbit retina has been incubated in Ames' medium for over 2 days with its metabolism and electrical responses to light stimuli well maintained.  This mixture is a medium of choice for maintaining central nervous system tissue in vitro.

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
A1420Ames' Medium
  • Powder
  • With L-glutamine
  • Without sodium bicarbonate; supplement with 1.9 g/L sodium bicarbonate
  • Formulated at 8.9 grams of powder per liter of medium;
  • Cell culture tested
Use to maintain retinal tissues for in vitro studies on central nervous system.

BGJb Medium (Fitton-Jackson Modification)

Medium BGJ was originally developed by Biggers, Gwatkin and Judah in the early 1960's at the Wistar Institute. Subsequent studies resulted in a modification designated BGJb which has been used for supporting cultures of cartilaginous embryonic bone. An additional modification, developed by Sylvia Fitton-Jackson at Strangeways Laboratory in England, is further enriched over the prior formulae. Additional amino acids and vitamins, and increased buffering capacity conferred by the phosphates in the Fitton-Jackson modification, create conditions that permit calcification, as well as, growth of cartilaginous embryonic bone.

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
B6644BGJb Medium (Fitton-Jackson Modification)
  • Powder
  • With L-glutamine
  • Without sodium bicarbonate; supplement with 3.5 g/L sodium bicarbonate
  • Formulated at 21.3 grams of powder per liter of medium;
  • Cell culture tested
Culturing of cartilaginous embryonic bone cells.

Click's Medium

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
C5572Click's Medium (Eagle's Ham's amino acids, EHAA)
  • Liquid
  • With sodium bicarbonate
  • Without mercaptoethanol and L-glutamine; supplement with 0.0.584 g/L L-glutamine
  • Sterile-filtered
  • Endotoxin tested
  • Cell culture tested
 

CMRL-1066 Medium

CMRL-1066 is a chemically defined medium developed in the late 1960's at the Connaugh Medical Research Laboratories. A less complex and extensively modified version of Medium 199, CMRL-1066 was designed initially for use with mouse L-cells in non-supplemented culture. Although developed for use in serum-free culture, CMRL-1066 can be supplemented with serum and used to support the growth of many cell types.

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
C0422CMRL-1066 Medium
  • Powder
  • With L-glutamine
  • Without sodium bicarbonate; supplement with 2.2 g/L sodium bicarbonate
  • Cell culture tested
Suitable for growing a wide variety of cell types, especially fibroblast-like cells.

Fischer's Medium

Fischer's Medium was originally formulated to support serial propagation of cells from leukemic mice. In initial studies, cells in culture were examined for resistance to chemotherapeutic agents. While these studies were typically carried out in whole animals, Fischer's medium made it possible to conduct parallel studies in vitro. Fischer's medium supports clonal reproduction of cells, particularly lymphoblasts from primary explants or from cells in culture.

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
F5008Fischer's Medium
  • Powder
  • With L-glutamine
  • Without sodium bicarbonate; supplement with 1.125 g/L sodium bicarbonate;
  • Formulated at 10.6 grams of powder per liter of medium;
  • Cell culture tested
Useful for cloning and low density culture of hematopoeitic cells, especially lymphocytes.

Glascow Minimum Essential Medium (GMEM)

Glascow Minimum Essential Medium was originally developed by Ian MacPherson and Michael Stoker as a modification of Eagle's medium (BME). The modifications included adding 10% tryptose phosphate and twice the normal concentration of amino acids and vitamins. This medium was used to study the genetic factors affecting cell competence. Polyoma virus was used to transform four fibroblast clones from a culture of baby hamster kidney cells

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
G5154Glasgow Minimum Essential Medium
  • Powder
  • With L-glutamine
  • Without tryptose phosphate broth and sodium bicarbonate; supplement with 2.75 g/L sodium bicarbonate;
  • Formulated at 12.5 grams of powder per liter of medium;
  • Cell culture tested
For use with adherent kidney cell lines such as baby hamster kidney cells (BHK).

Complete GMEM formulation by supplementing  with tryptose phosphate broth (T8159) at 100 mL per liter of medium.
G6148Glasgow Minimum Essential Medium
  • Liquid
  • With sodium bicarbonate
  • Without L-glutamine; supplement with 0.292 g/L L-glutamine
  • Sterile-filtered
  • Endotoxin tested
  • Cell culture tested
Liquid version of G5154.
Complete GMEM formulation by supplementing with tryptose phosphate broth (T8159) at 100 mL per liter of medium.

Iscove's Modified Dulbecco's Medium (IMDM)

Guilber and Iscove demonstrated that precursor cells of erythrocytes and macrophages could be cultured in a totally defined serum-free medium supplemented with albumin, transferrin, lecithin, and selenium.  This medium is a modification of Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's medium (DME) and contains selenium, additional amino acids and vitamins, sodium pyruvate, HEPES buffer and potassium nitrate instead of ferric nitrate.

Studies have demonstrated that Iscove's medium supports murine B lymphocytes, hematopoeitic tissue from bone marrow, B cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide, T lymphocytes, and a variety of hybrid cells.

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
I2510Iscove's Modified Dulbecco's Medium Hybri-Max.
  • Powder
  • With L-glutamine and 25 mM HEPES
  • Without sodium bicarbonate; supplement with 3.024 g/L sodium bicarbonate;
  • Formulated at 17.7 grams of powder per liter of medium;
  • Endotoxin tested
  • Hybridoma tested
Hybridoma tested version of I7633.

Use this product when working with hybridoma cells.
I3390Iscove's Modified Dulbecco's Medium Hybri-Max.
  • Liquid
  • With sodium bicarbonate
  • Without L-glutamine; supplement with 0.584 g/L L-glutamine
  • Sterile-filtered
  • Endotoxin tested
  • Hybridoma tested
Liquid and hybridoma tested version of I7633.

Use this product when working with hybridoma cells.
I7633Iscove's Modified Dulbecco's Medium
  • Powder
  • With L-glutamine and 25 mM HEPES
  • Without sodium bicarbonate; supplement with 3.024 g/L sodium bicarbonate;
  • Formulated at 17.7 grams of powder per liter of medium;
  • Cell culture tested
IMDM is frequently used for serum-free growth of hematopoeitic cells.  This includes fusion cell lines such as hybridomas.

Recommended as a base formulation for the development of unique serum-free formulations.

HEPES increases the buffer strength of the medium and raises the maximum buffering range.

Recommended for cells that grow better at a pH above 7.2.

L-15 Medium (Leibovitz)

L-15 Medium (Leibovitz) was originally formulated for use in carbon dioxide free systems requiring sodium bicarbonate supplementation. L-15 is buffered by its complement of salts, free base amino acids and galactose (in place of glucose). When properly supplemented, L-15 medium supports established cell lines, such as HEp-2 and LLC-MK2, and primary explants of embryonic and adult human tissue. Many viruses have been successfully cultivated in this medium.

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
L4386L-15 Medium (Leibovitz)
  • Powder
  • With L-glutamine
  • Formulated at 14.8 grams of powder per liter of medium;
  • Cell culture tested
Primarily used for the culture of adherent primary explants of embryonic and adult human tissue; especially, when these explanted cells; are used for production of virus.
L5520L-15 Medium (Leibovitz)
  • Liquid
  • Without L-glutamine; supplement with 0.3 g/L L-glutamine
  • Sterile-filtered
  • Endotoxin tested
  • Cell culture tested
Liquid formulation of L4386.

Primarily used for the culture of adherent primary explants of embryonic and adult human tissue; especially, when these explanted cells are used for production of virus.

McCoy's 5A Modified Medium

In 1959, McCoy and his coworkers reported the amino acid requirements for in vitro cultivation of Novikoff Hepatoma cells. These studies were performed using Basal Medium 5A, which was subsequently modified to create a new medium known as McCoy's 5A medium. Hsu and Kellogg employed this medium to support the growth of primary cultures derived from normal bone marrow, skin, gingiva, testes, mouse kidney, omentum, adrenal glands, lung, spleen, rat embryos, and other tissues.
 

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
M4892McCoy's 5A Modified
  • Powder
  • With L-glutamine
  • Without sodium bicarbonate; supplement with 2.2 g/L sodium bicarbonate;
  • Formulated at 12.0 grams of powder per liter of medium;
  • Cell culture tested
Used for the primary culture of cells from a wide range of tissues.

Recommend use for production of virus in primary cell cultures.
M8403McCoy's 5A Modified
  • Liquid
  • With sodium bicarbonate
  • Without L-glutamine; supplement with 0.22 g/L L-glutamine
  • Sterile-filtered
  • Endotoxin tested
  • Cell culture tested
Liquid form of M4892.

Used for the primary culture of cells from a wide range of tissues.

Recommend  use for production of virus in primary cell cultures.
M9270McCoy's 5A Modified
  • Powder
  • With L-glutamine
  • Without phenol red and sodium bicarbonate; supplement with 2.2 g/L sodium bicarbonate;
  • Formulated at 11.9 grams of powder per liter of medium;
  • Cell culture tested
Same as M4892, except that phenol red is not included.

Phenol red has been shown to interfere with the growth of some cells at cloning densities.

Use this version of McCoy's 5A when working with stem cells or cells at low densities.

NCTC Medium

NCTC-135 was developed by the Tissue Culture Section, Laboratory of Biology, National Cancer Institute (NCI), Bethesda, MD. NCTC-135 is a modification of NCTC-109 medium, also developed by the NCI. NCTC-135 differs from NCTC-109 in that the L-cysteine-HCl, which is toxic to certain cell types, was replaced with L-cystine.  NCTC-109 and the 135 modification were formulated to establish and maintain a strain of mouse cells (L929) in a chemically defined and serum free medium.  Successful establishment of L 929 cells led to further nutritional and metabolic studies and the establishment of at least ten other cell lines adapted to this medium.

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
N1140

NCTC 109 Medium

  • Liquid
  • With sodium bicarbonate
  • Without L-glutamine; supplement with 0.136 g/L L-glutamine
  • Sterile-filtered
  • Endotoxin tested
  • Cell culture tested>
NCTC-109 and the 135 modification were formulated to establish and maintain a strain of mouse cells (L929) in a chemically defined and serum free medium.

Swim's S-77 Medium

Swim's S-77 medium (designated S-77) is a modification of MEM Eagle's medium that lacks biotin and has increased levels of amino acids and inositol. This medium was designed to support suspension cultures of cells derived from the Novikoff hepatoma. It is an incomplete basal medium, requiring additions of L-glutamine, L-cystine, calcium chloride and other components. When properly supplemented, Swim's S-77 medium has been used to establish, in culture, a number of stable cell lines (N1-31, N1-S1/FUdr) derived from the Novikoff hepatoma.

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
S2513Swim's S-77 Medium
  • Powder
  • With 12.5 mg/L streptomycin sulfate.
  • Without penicillin G sodium, L-glutamine, L-cystine, calcium chloride, phenol red, and sodium bicarbonate;
  • Supplement with 0.265 g/L calcium chloride; 0.012 g/L L-cystine; 0.292 g/L  L-glutamine; 2.2 g/L sodium bicarbonate
  • Formulated at 9.0 grams of powder per liter of medium;
  • Cell culture tested.
Designed to support suspension cultures of cells derived from the Novikoff hepatoma.

Waymouth Medium

Waymouth Medium MB 752/1 was developed as a totally defined synthetic medium for the cultivation of mouse L929 cells in a serum-free environment. Clones of L929 cells, conditioned to grow in serum-supplemented or serum free medium were cultivated for more than thirty passages in serum-free Waymouth medium and demonstrated a doubling time of approximately 24 hours. The applicability of Waymouth Medium MF 752/1 has been extended to include whole organ culture, establishment of carcinoma cell lines from pleural effusions, and the growth of potentially tumorigenic cells prior to their assessment in vitro.

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
W1625Waymouth MB 752/1 Medium
  • Liquid
  • With sodium bicarbonate
  • Without L-glutamine; supplement with 0.3 g/L L-glutamine
  • Sterile-filtered
  • Endotoxin tested
  • Cell culture tested
For the cultivation of mouse L929 cells in a serum-free environment. Also used in whole organ culture, establishment of carcinoma cell lines from pleural effusions, and the growth of potentially tumorigenic cells prior to their assessment in vitro.

William's Medium E

In 1971, Williams et. al. described a procedure for enriching isolated hepatocyte cultures for poylgonal epithelial cells and reducing the number of contaminating fibroblasts. This method was a sequential plating technique based on the observation that fibroblast-like cells adhere to a substrate more rapidly than epithelial cells.  The isolated epithelial cells resulting from this treatment could then be cultured in a rich medium designate William's Medium D. Newborn animals were the source of cells used in these studies, as they were in most studies of liver cell culture. Since newborn liver in not functionally mature, further studies were conducted by Williams and Gunn to explore the possibility of culturing adult liver cells on a long-term basis. The medium developed during the course of these studies was designated William's Medium E. It has been shown to support the growth in long-term culture of adult liver epithelial cells.

Product No.Product NameDescriptionApplication
W4125Williams' Medium E
  • Powder
  • With L-glutamine
  • Without sodium bicarbonate; supplement with 2.2 g/L sodium bicarbonate;
  • Formulated at 10.8 grams of powder per liter of medium;
  • Cell culture tested
For long-term culture of adult liver epithelial cells.
W4128Williams' Medium E
  • Liquid
  • With sodium bicarbonate
  • Without L-glutamine; supplement with 0.292 g/L L-glutamine
  • Sterile-filtered
  • Endotoxin tested
  • Cell culture tested
Liquid version of W4125.

Add glutamine at time of formulation.
W1878Williams' Medium E
  • Liquid
  • With sodium bicarbonate
  • Without L-glutamine and phenol red; supplement with 0.292 g/L L-glutamine
  • Sterile-filtered
  • Endotoxin tested
  • Cell culture tested
Same as W4128, except that phenol red has been removed.

Phenol red has been shown to interfere with the growth of some cells at low or cloning densities.

Use this version of William's E when working with stem cells or cells at low densities.
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