Fetal bovine serum

Fetal or fetal calf serum ( FCS) is derived from the blood of Kuhfeten and is a major component of many culture media, which are required for growing and cultivation of cells in the cell culture. The term FCS is rarely used are the common English names fetal bovine serum (FBS ), fetal calf serum (FCS ) or newborn calf serum (NCS ).

Areas of application

Component of culture media for cell culture

Fetal calf serum contains a variety of proteins which are not yet all known today. Among these proteins are growth factors that are required for the culturing of cells in cell culture flasks. Not require all of the cell cultures of fetal calf serum, but in particular, the culture of sensitive cells (stem cells, etc.) is currently dependent on the addition of fetal calf serum.

Additional in cryopreservation (freezing )

When cells or sensitive proteins are to be frozen ( cryopreservation ), calf serum is usually (1% to 20%) added to protect cells from damage by freezing.

Suppression of enzymatic reactions

In the handling of cell cultures enzymes are frequently used for this purpose typically include the trypsinization of the cells, in order to detach from the culture dish. After an action which further enzymatic reaction must be stopped, this is often done by adding fetal calf serum, since this enzyme has a host of alternative substrates.

FCS and GMP

The term Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP ) ( German Good Manufacturing Practice ) are Purity / Quality and guidelines that must be adhered to in the preparation of a medicament. Also in the generation of cell cultures for therapeutic use ( for example, for tissue engineering or stem cell transplantation ), the GMP guidelines must be observed. The use of calf serum is not possible under these conditions for many reasons. One reason is the large number of unknown proteins, which can lead to severe side effects and allergies in patients. Furthermore, calf serum impurities and transmit diseases (eg mycoplasma ). Therefore, for several years, efforts are underway, fetal calf serum in the culture media to be replaced by synthetic materials with defined properties.

Only when serum-free culture media are available, a wide application of new cell therapy methods is possible.

Production

The procedure for obtaining the substance is in the removal of the uterus and the unborn fetus. The fetus is removed from the sleeve and cut the umbilical cord. Then the unstunned, living fetus, blood is withdrawn from the heart, which is used for serum collection.

Replacement of FCS

Researchers at ETH Zurich are working since 2005 in the project " serum -free" in the development of a replacement for FCS. The aim of the project is to reduce the proportion of fetal calf serum in the cell culture media significantly. The replacement is a mixture of individual compounds, so it is "chemically fully defined " and therefore corresponds to the quality characteristic that a nutrient medium should be standardized. The contamination of the culture medium by mycoplasmas can be prevented in this way. Another reason for the development, is that cell cultures, which were prepared using FCS as therapeutic cells are hardly be registered. So far, there to cultivate several cell lines in media without FCS succeeded.

Controversial and criticism

Since the Ersatzseren synthetically produced not achieve the properties of fetal calf serum, FCS remains the serum with the optimum growth factors. The need for FCS is tremendous across the globe, with which he is annually one to two million calves. The advantage in the use of man-made serums is the sterility of the medium, a chemically well-defined composition and ethical clearance. However, so far outweigh the benefits of FCS. It is likely that large companies remain due to cost-effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in FCS, as the development of a synthetic serum is comparatively inefficient.

Swell

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