Evaluation of a Serum-Free Medium for Human Epithelial and Stromal Cell Culture

Abstract

Over the past decade, growing demand from many domains (research, cosmetics, pharmaceutical industries, etc.) has given rise to significant expansion of the number of in vitro cell cultures. Despite the widespread use of fetal bovine serum, many issues remain. Among them, the whole constitution of most serums remains unknown and is subject to significant variations. Furthermore, the presence of potential contamination and xenogeny elements is challenging for clinical applications, while limited production is an obstacle to the growing demand. To circumvent these issues, a Serum-Free Medium (SFM) has been developed to culture dermal and vesical fibroblasts and their corresponding epithelial cells, namely, keratinocytes and urothelial cells. To assess the impact of SFM on these cells, proliferation, clonogenic and metabolic assays have been compared over three passages to conditions associated with the use of a classic Fetal Bovine Serum-Containing Medium (FBSCM). The results showed that the SFM enabled fibroblast and epithelial cell proliferation while maintaining a morphology, cell size and metabolism similar to those of FBSCM. SFM has repeatedly been found to be better suited for epithelial cell proliferation and clonogenicity. Fibroblasts and epithelial cells also showed more significant mitochondrial metabolism in the SFM compared to the FBSCM condition. However, the SFM may need further optimization to improve fibroblast proliferation.

Biochemical and functional characterization of heat-inactivated coelomic fluid from earthworms as a potential alternative for fetal bovine serum in animal cell culture

“…Eventhough the quantity of the HI-CF components highly differs from the golden standard of animal cell culture FBS, yet it provides a sufficient degree of nutrients for the cells to proliferate. Batch and price variability is common in FBS since it is reared from different groups of cattle which may have different diet, genetic diversity and from different location 16,17 . Even a small variation in the FBS compositon is greatly reported to affect the phenotypical properties of cell culture 18,19 .…”

Tissue Engineering for Gastrointestinal and Genitourinary Tracts

“…In particular, it will become crucial that discoveries made in laboratories cross the barrier of clinical translation at a higher rate, despite the constant enhancement of regulatory requirements. More and more often, it will become necessary not only to reduce the costs associated with the production of tissues [282] but to rationalize the approaches and to gradually free oneself from the animal products still used for the production of the tissues [283]. Furthermore, until patients can benefit from the most recent advances in tissue engineering and until the shortage of organs to be transplanted has resolved, models produced by tissue engineering should become used as study models for various pathologies.…”

Tissue Engineering for Penile Reconstruction

“…The fourth and final element we often underestimate is the culture media in which the cells will be cultivated [ 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 ]. These media not only allow the cells to proliferate on the surface or inside the material by providing it with signals, often in the form of growth factors, but also allow the cells to differentiate to play their role, such as the formation of a barrier to urine for epithelial cells [ 88 , 89 ] or the formation of a muscular structure to allow contractions [ 90 , 91 ].…”