MEM Cell Culture Solution, Media

MEM medium (Minimum Essential Medium), also known as Minimum Essential Medium (MEM), Minimum Essential Medium (MEM) or Low Limit Eagle Medium (LLEM), developed by Harry Eagle on the basis of Eagle Essential Medium (BEM), is one of the most basic and widely used mediums, and it is one of the most commonly used mediums for animal cell culture, including HeLa, BHK-21, 293, HEP-2, HT-1080, MCF-7, fibroblasts, and primary rat astrocytes. It is one of the most commonly used media for animal cell culture, including HeLa, BHK-21, 293, HEP-2, HT-1080, MCF-7, fibroblasts, and primary rat astrocytes, etc. MEM medium is a simple medium containing only 12 essential amino acids, glutamine, and 8 vitamins, and is primarily used for wall-applied cell cultures, but can be modified for use in other types of cell cultures as well.

L-glutamine (Glutamine) is an essential nutrient in cell culture, but it is unstable in solution and will degrade spontaneously. L-glutamine-free media can be used to arbitrarily adjust the dosage of L-glutamine according to the research needs, and the addition of fresh L-glutamine or its substitutes at the time of use is more conducive to the growth of cells.
L-Alanyl-L-glutamine (Ala-Glu), also known as alanyl-glutamine and alanine-glutamyl dipeptide, is an advanced cell culture additive that can be used as a direct replacement for L-glutamine in cell culture media.L-glutamine is an essential nutrient in cell culture, but it is unstable in solution and will L-glutamine is an essential nutrient for cell culture, but it is unstable in solution and will spontaneously degrade to ammonia and pyroglutamic acid, of which ammonia is harmful to cells; whereas L-alanyl-L-glutamine is very stable in aqueous solution and will not spontaneously degrade. The mechanism of cellular utilisation is as follows: during cell culture, cells will gradually release a peptidase into the culture medium, which will hydrolyse L-alanyl-L-glutamine into L-alanine and L-glutamine, and then the cells will take up and utilise these two hydrolysis products. The process of cellular utilisation of L-alanyl-L-glutamine is similar to the flow-addition strategy, in which low concentration levels of L-glutamine are continuously added to the culture medium, thereby increasing the utilisation of L-glutamine without generating excess ammonia, which is more conducive to cellular growth.L-alanyl-L-glutamine can be substituted for an equimolar amount of L-glutamine in the culture solution, which can be applied to all types of cells with little or no need for acclimatisation and can prolong the time of cell culture. And it can prolong the cell culture time and reduce the number of passages, which saves time and money. Activity decreases more slowly than in cells cultured in L-glutamine-added medium. The reason for the slightly longer delay is the time required for the release of peptidase and the digestion of dipeptides.
NEAA (Non-Essential Amino Acids), which is the addition of 7 types of NEAA, L-alanine, L-glutamic acid, L-aspartic acid, L-aspartic acid, L-proline, L-serine, and glycine, to MEM medium, reduces the side-effects of the production of non-essential amino acids by the cells themselves when they are cultured, and effectively promotes the proliferation of cells in metabolism.

Glucose can be conveniently adjusted to the concentration of glucose at will according to research needs. High-sugar media are commonly used for fast-growing cells with low adhesion, myeloma cells for hybridomas, clonal cells, DNA-transfected transformed cells, host cells for various primary viruses, culture of single cells, and vaccine production, such as expression of EPO and production of hepatitis B vaccine using CHO cells. Low sugar medium is more suitable for the culture of slower metabolising, wall-dependent cells.
HEPES is an excellent biological buffer with no toxic effect on cells. The medium with HEPES can maintain a constant pH range for a longer period of time, which can effectively prevent the PH fluctuation of the culture medium from adversely affecting the growth of cells. It can be used in CO2-free incubator.
Phenol red is used as a pH indicator in the culture medium to continuously monitor the pH of the culture medium. Phenol red makes the culture medium yellow at low pH values and purple at higher pH values, and red at pH 7.2-7.4, which is the most suitable for cell culture. However, phenol red has some disadvantages. Studies have shown that phenol red can mimic the effects of steroid hormones (especially oestrogen), so it is best to use a phenol red-free medium when oestrogen-sensitive cells are used (e.g. breast tissue). Phenol red can interfere with detection during flow cytometric analysis. In addition, the presence of phenol red in some serum-free media formulations can interfere with sodium-potassium balance.
Penicillin-streptomycin mixture, often referred to as ‘double antibiotic’, is the most commonly used antibiotic to prevent microbial contamination in in vitro cultures. Penicillin interferes with bacterial cell wall synthesis and is particularly effective against Gram-positive organisms, while streptomycin binds to the bacterial ribosomal 30S subunit and inhibits bacterial protein synthesis, which is particularly effective against Gram-negative and Gram-negative organisms. Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, but particularly effective against Gram-negative bacteria. The combination of penicillin and streptomycin prevents most bacterial contamination.
This product contains amino acids, vitamins, inorganic salts and other ingredients required for cell culture, but does not contain proteins, lipids or any growth factors, so this product should be used with serum or serum-free additives.