How to Choose the Right Medium for Cells

Cell culture is now one of the major techniques applied in the life sciences. It is the collective term for cells, tissues or organs that have been removed from animals or plants and cultured in an artificial environment that is conducive to growth. The most important and critical step in cell culture is the selection of the appropriate medium. The medium is the most important and complex factor in controlling cell growth, including classical medium, serum-free medium and medium of defined chemical composition. Classical medium is the most commonly used of these.

Classic medium is a synthetic medium based on natural medium components. A classic medium also needs to be supplemented with amino acids, vitamins, inorganic salts, glucose, and serum to provide growth factors, hormones, and attachment factors. In addition to nutrients, media also help maintain pH and osmotic balance in the culture system. There are a variety of classical mediums such as DMEM, RPMI-1640, MEM and MEM/F-12, which are very widely used classic cell culture media.

Guidelines for Cell Culture Media Selection

Cell Line	Cell Type	Species	Tissue	Culture Medium
293	Fibroblasts	Human	Embryonic kidney	MEM, 10% heat-inactivated horse serum
IMR-90	Fibroblasts	Human	Lung	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum and NEAA
W1-38	Fibroblasts	Human	Embryonic lung, 3 months gestation	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum
A549	Epithelial cells	Human	Lung cancer	F-12K, 10% fetal bovine serum
A431	Epithelial cells	Human	Epidermal cell carcinoma	DMEM, 10% fetal bovine serum
BHL-100	Epithelial cells	Human	Breast	McCoy'5A, 10% fetal bovine serum
BeWo	Epithelial trophoblast	Human	Choriocarcinoma	F-12K, 15% fetal bovine serum
Caco-2	Epithelial cells	Human	Colon adenocarcinoma	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum and NEAA
HCT-15	Epithelial cells	Human	Colorectal adenocarcinoma	RPMI-1640, 10% fetal bovine serum
HeLa	Epithelial cells	Human	Cervical cancer	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum and NEAA
HEp-G2	Epithelial cells	Human	Hepatocellular carcinoma	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum and NEAA
HEp-2	Epithelial cells	Human	Throat cancer	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum or RPMI-1640, 10% fetal bovine serum
HT-1080	Epithelial cells	Human	Fibrosarcoma	MEM, 10% HI fetal bovine serum and NEAA
HT-29	Epithelial cells	Human	Colon adenocarcinoma	McCoy'5A, 10% fetal bovine serum
JEG-2	Epithelial cells	Human	Choriocarcinoma	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum
MCF7	Epithelial cells	Human	Breast cancer	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum and NEAA, 10 μg/ml insulin
KB	Epithelial cells	Human	Oral Cancer	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum and NEAA
Saos-2	Epithelial cells	Human	Osteosarcoma	McCoy'5A, 15% fetal bovine serum
WI-38	Epithelial cells	Human	Embryonic lung	BME, 10% fetal bovine serum
WISH	Epithelial cells	Human	Amniotic membrane	BME, 10% fetal bovine serum
HUVEC	Endothelial cells	Human	Umbilical cord	F-12K, 10% fetal bovine serum and heparin salt 100 μg/ml
EB-3	Lymphoid cells	Human	Burkitt lymphoma	RPMI-1640, 10% fetal bovine serum
Raji	Lymphoid cells	Human	Burkitt lymphoma	RPMI-1640, 10% fetal bovine serum
IM-9	Lymphoblast	Human	Bone marrow of patients with myeloma	RPMI-1640, 10% fetal bovine serum
Daudi	Lymphoblast	Human	Lymba patient's blood	RPMI-1640, 10% fetal bovine serum
H9	Lymphoblast	Human	T cell lymphoma	RPMI-1640, 20% fetal bovine serum
HL-60	Lymphoblast	Human	Promyelocytic leukemia	RPMI-1640, 20% fetal bovine serum
Jurkat	Lymphoblast	Human	T cell leukemia	RPMI-1640, 10% fetal bovine serum
K-562	Lymphoblast	Human	Myelogenous leukemia	RPMI-1640, 10% fetal bovine serum
U937	Lymphoid cells	Human	Histiocytic lymphoma	RPMI-1640, 10% fetal bovine serum
KG-1	Bone marrow white blood cells	Human	Erythroleukemia patient bone marrow	IMDM, 20% fetal bovine serum
BALB/3T3	Fibroblasts	Mouse	Embryo	DMEM, 10% fetal bovine serum
3T6	Fibroblasts	Mouse	Embryo	DMEM, 10% fetal bovine serum
AtT-20	Epithelial cells	Mouse	Pituitary tumor	F-10, 15% horse serum and 2.5% fetal bovine serum
AtT-20	Epithelial cells	Mouse	Melanoma	F-10, 15% horse serum and 2.5% fetal bovine serum
I-10	Epithelial cells	Mouse	Testicular cancer	F-10, 15% horse serum and 2.5% fetal bovine serum
Y-1	Epithelial cells	Mouse	Adrenal tumor	F-10, 15% horse serum and 2.5% fetal bovine serum
WEHI-3b	Macrophage-like cells	Mouse	Myelomonocytic leukemia	DMEM, 10% fetal bovine serum
BHK-21	Fibroblasts	Mouse	Kidney	GMEM, 10% FBS or MEM, 10% FBS and NEAA
HaK	Epithelial cells	Mouse	Kidney	BME, 10% fetal bovine serum
CHO-K1	Epithelial cells	Mouse	Ovaries	F-12, 10% fetal bovine serum
Clone 9	Epithelial cells	Rat	Liver	F-12, 10% fetal bovine serum
GH1	Epithelial cells	Rat	Pituitary tumor	F-10, 15% horse serum and 2.5% fetal bovine
GH3	Epithelial cells	Rat	Pituitary tumor	F-10, 15% horse serum and 2.5% fetal bovine
IEC-6	Epithelial cells	Rat	Normal small intestine	DMEM, 5% fetal bovine serum, insulin 0.1 μg/ml
L2	Epithelial cells	Rat	Lung	F-12, 10% fetal bovine serum
XC	Epithelial cells	Rat	Sarcoma	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum and NEAA
D-17	Epithelial cells	Dog	Osteosarcoma	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum and NEAA
BT	Fibroblasts	Bovine	Nasal bone cells	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum and NEAA
CV-1	Fibroblasts	Monkey	African green monkey kidney	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum
COS-1	Fibroblasts	Monkey	Kidney	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum
COS-3	Fibroblasts	Monkey	Kidney	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum
COS-7	Fibroblasts	Monkey	African green monkey kidney	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum
Vero	Fibroblasts	Monkey	African green monkey kidney	199 medium, 5% fetal bovine serum
CRFK	Epithelial cells	Cat	Kidney	MEM, 10% fetal bovine serum and NEAA