Irradiated Fetal Bovine Serum, 500 mL

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• Bovine Serum in Cell CultureBovine serum is the liquid fraction of clotted cattle blood, added to culture medium at 5-10% to supply growth factors, hormones, transport and attachment proteins, lipids and trace elements that basal media do not contain. Fetal bovine serum (FBS) and fetal calf serum (FCS) are two names for the same product, collected from the fetus at slaughter of pregnant cows; newborn calf serum comes from calves under about 20 days old and donor bovine serum from controlled donor herds aged roughly 12-36 months, both containing more immunoglobulin and fewer growth factors than FBS. Because serum is an undefined biological material with substantial lot-to-lot variation, unresolved animal welfare questions and a volatile supply chain, defined serum-free and animal-origin-free media are increasingly preferred where the cell line will tolerate them.
• Heat Inactivation of Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS)Heat inactivation of fetal bovine serum is a controlled 30-minute incubation at 56 degrees C that destroys the heat-labile proteins of the complement cascade before the serum is added to culture medium. The serum is thawed, brought to 37 degrees C, transferred to a 56 degrees C water bath, held for exactly 30 minutes from the moment the serum itself reaches temperature with gentle swirling every 5-10 minutes, then cooled immediately and aliquoted. For routine culture of established cell lines it is usually unnecessary, because complement activity in fetal serum is low and heating also degrades labile growth factors; it remains standard practice for immunological assays and complement-sensitive cells.