What is fetal bovine serum (FBS)?
Fetal bovine serum (FBS), also known as fetal calf serum, is used extensively by both academic biology and industrial researchers as a supplement to basal growth medium in cell culture applications. It is a rich source of proteins and growth factors that support cell growth in culture.
Serum is the amber-colored blood fraction remaining after the natural coagulation of the blood; it is typically further refined via centrifugation, which serves to remove remaining blood cells, coagulation fibrinogens, and low-solubility proteins.
Fetal bovine serum is derived from the blood of a cow fetus, which is drawn via a closed system of collection. Notably, FBS is the most widely used serum supplement for in vitro cell culture
Benefits of fetal bovine serum use
| The unique biological makeup of FBS promotes rapid cell growth, thus making it a product that yields a high efficacy. In addition, fetal bovine serum contains a sparse amount of gamma globulin, higher levels of growth factors, and fewer complement proteins than both calf and adult bovine serum. This makes FBS ideal for propagating cell growth while also decreasing the possibility of mammalian cells binding or lysing in the culture, rationalizing the preference of FBS over other types of bovine sera. Furthermore, FBS contains low levels of antibodies and other growth-inhibiting components. |
In addition to providing cells with many growth-enhancing factors (growth factors, hormones, nutrients, etc.), FBS can also protect cells from harmful disruptions, including:
- Large pH shifts
- Proteases
- Toxic agents
- Shear forces
- Agents that would typically break up monolayers of adherent cells (FBS acts to inactivate these agents)
Therefore, when FBS is used, cell growth is typically:
- Rapid
- Consistent and reproducible
- Lacking in undesirable changes in differentiation
- Not hampered by the introduction of detrimental contaminants