I have seen some answers saying that we can use DMEM instead of RPMI (11.89mM Glucose). But I want to culture them in a low glucose medium (5mM Glucose) as per my experiments and we don't have low glucose DMEM in the lab right away. What possible problems might be faced if we are using MEM instead of RPMI? Will it affect the differentiation? Is MEM compatible for suspension cultures?
There is this version of the medium without any glucose: "RPMI, no glucose"
https://www.lifetechnologies.com/order/catalog/product/11879020
What you can easily do is to have one bottle with normal glucose, and one bottle with no glucose. Mix them in 1:1 ratio, and you will get low glucose RPMI.
RMPI is more complex than MEM. It's better not to take risks and change so dramatically.
Also, before you dive into a more austere low-glucose culture regimen, which is not well documented in THP-1 literature, it's better you do it gradually (by decreasing the glucose level step-wise for a few weeks) and allow the cells to adapt.
There could be minimal density requirements for cell survival under conditions deviating from the original ATCC recommendations. You need to try things out empirically.
The media and the cell culture conditions are standardized for each and every cell line and the media composition varies depending on the vendors/companies supplying the cell lines. If you have procured the cell line from ATCC then its better to go with the media what they are suggesting rather than experimenting you cells with some other media. Or if you have enough cell stock then may be you can try culturing the cells with different media.
I have started culturing them in MEM with 10% FBS. The morphology looks the same as in RPMI but the growth rate has come down a little. Yet to try with 15% FBS. Anyway, thank you very much for your suggestions.
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