Current Essay: “Fetal or fatal Bovine Serum?”
Fatal disadvantages of FBS shown
The essay by Toni Lindl and Gerhard Gstraunthaler demonstrates the fatal disadvantages of Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS). The article published in the German scientific magazine ‘Laborjournal’ proposes a contemporary cell culture solution: Human Platelet Lysate (hPL).
High reproducibility of trial results achieved with hPL
The authors highlight the reproducibility of trial results achieved with hPL, while trial results achieved with FBS lack validity depending on batch-to-batch variations. Beside the more standardised culture conditions, hPL provides an increased biosafety and eliminates the ethically questionable blood extraction from calf foetuses. Also from an economic point of view, hPL provides more attractive cell culture conditions: The supply and price of hPL is independent from the beef industry, from environmental effects and infectious diseases. In comparison, those external impacts provoke supply, quality and price fluctuations of FBS.
HPL outperforms FBS in human cell culture trials
Furthermore, hPL outperforms FBS in human cell culture trials. The superior performance of hPL reduces the required supplement concentration compared to FBS. Another critical point in regard to the cultivation of human cells is the unphysiological cell environment provided by FBS: The animal serum affects the natural processes in human cells. Consequently, the authors emphasise the need to use human cell culture supplements, especially for expansions of human cells.
In comparison to FBS, our hPL products provide a physiological cell environment. Especially, our patented system ELAREM™ Matrix Kit is both gel scaffold and nutrient source in one – resembling the physiological cell environment.
Discover our hPL products enhancing your cell culture from research to GMP requirements: www.pl-bioscience.com/products/
Source: Laborjournal, issue 7-8/2019.
Read the full article (only available in German) via: www.laborjournal.de/rubric/essays/essays2019/e19_16.php
