Cell culture medium 

I. Types

1. Natural Media
   • These media are made from natural biological materials. For example, plasma clot media and chick embryo extract media. Natural media have rich nutritional components and can meet the growth requirements of some special cells. However, due to their complex and uncertain components, their quality is difficult to control, and their application in large – scale cell culture is limited.
2. Synthetic Media
   • They are precisely formulated by artificial means according to the nutrients required for cell growth. For example, MEM (Minimum Essential Medium), DMEM (Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium), RPMI – 1640, etc. The components of synthetic media are well – defined, which is convenient for experimental research and large – scale production. However, natural components such as serum often need to be added to meet all the growth needs of cells.
3. Serum – Free Media
   • This type of medium is made on the basis of synthetic media by adding various components that can replace the functions of serum. Serum – free media avoid the disadvantages brought by serum, such as reducing the potential risks of virus and mycoplasma contamination and improving the consistency of cell culture products. However, the research and development and use costs of serum – free media are relatively high, and the requirements for cell culture conditions are also relatively strict.

II. Applications

1. Basic Research
   • In basic research fields such as cell biology and molecular biology, cell culture media are the basis for cell experiments. By culturing cells in vitro, researchers can observe the morphology, structure, and growth characteristics of cells and study the physiological functions, gene expression, signal transduction, and other mechanisms of cells. For example, when studying the proliferation mechanism of tumor cells, tumor cells are cultured using an appropriate cell culture medium, and then changes in genes and proteins related to cell proliferation are analyzed through various experimental means.
2. Biopharmaceutical Production
   • In the biopharmaceutical industry, cell culture media are used to produce biopharmaceuticals, such as monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, and recombinant proteins. For example, in the production process of monoclonal antibodies, hybridoma cells are cultured in large – scale bioreactors using specific cell culture media to secrete large amounts of monoclonal antibodies, which are then obtained as products through a series of separation and purification steps.
3. Medical Diagnosis and Treatment
   • In medical diagnosis, cell culture media can be used to culture pathogens in vitro to help diagnose infectious diseases. For example, bacteria are cultured for drug – sensitivity tests to determine effective antibiotics against pathogenic bacteria. In the field of cell therapy, such as stem cell therapy, suitable cell culture media are required to maintain the proliferation and differentiation abilities of stem cells and provide cell sources for disease treatment.