Hi
I want to know whether there is any difference between FBS (fetal bovine serum) and FCS (fetal calf serum). Most people say it is the same thing. However, I plan to culture NIH/3T3 cells and ATCC recommends using FCS and not FBS.
https://www.atcc.org/products/all/CRL-1658.aspx#culturemethod
Does anyone have experience working with NIH/3T3 or Balb/3t3 cell line and what is the best way to transfect them?
Pls share your suggestions.
Many Thanks
Apoorva
It is Bovine serum and Calf serum, there is no different but I believe there is a different in preparation. For tissue culture it is better to use FCS but to freeze cells I would use FBS.
There is no difference between FBS and FCS, it is just a naming preference. However the 'F' for fetal is important. In the link you shared it says to culture in Calf Serum (not fetal). This means the serum comes from a calf after it is born rather than before.
So FBS and FCS are the same and both fetal, but different to BS or CS which would come from a calf already born.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions :)
@ Alex Agrotis : thanks for explaining the difference
Hello,
I have red sth and looking for more opinions:
does anyone know or has a reference of whether FETAL serum in contrast to bovine/calf serum from a born animal might be depleted of hormones like estrogen.....
which makes sense, as you might not have the hormones til you reach puberty, right ?!
Thanks a lot for any coment
Calf serum is reported to be low in Iron levels compared to Bovine serum.
Anyhow, You can use Fetal Bovine serum. Hope your cells are growing fine by this time, considering the question is too old.
Hello
As the commenter before me stated, there is no difference between fetal bovine serum (FBS) and fetal calf serum (FCS). It is my understanding that the name FCS was more commonly used in the past while FBS is now more commonly used. I haven't come across the term bovine calf serum before, but FBS is harvested from a bovine fetus (hence the name). There is serum that is harvested from newborn calves (which I assume is what you call Bovine Calf Serum), which is different from FBS in regards to some protein concentrations.
Good Luck
Hello Dr Apoorva!
Can you share the transfection protocol you used for NIH/3T3 ?
Thanks in advance :)
FBS and FCS are the same as replies above. It is a researchers choice to use either one while making a report
I find its useful:
https://assets.thermofisher.com/TFS-Assets/BID/Flyers/gibco-fetal-bovine-serum-frequently-asked-questions-flyer.pdf
https://www.gembio.com/blog-entry/serum-fbs-bcs-human-horse-what-am-i-supposed-use
hi, this might help
Hi, Apoorva Verma,
There is no difference between FBS and FCS, it is the same serum with name preference. However, the 'F' for fetal is very important, and catalog numbers from different companies are critical for cell culture.
Here's the transfection protocol.
Hope this would help you.
I saw this thread - it is quite old but for anyone reading this I need to clarify something.
- FBS and FCS are equivalent.
- New born calf serum (NBCS) and calf serum (CS) are different from each other and from FBS.
- To culture and expand 3T3 cells in an undifferentiated state it is essential to use CALF SERUM (CS) (not fetal). see Cell Research (1990), 2, 197−206.
- Fetal sera are rich in growth factors that will drive a fast growing transformed 3T3 phenotype.
- Calf Serum at low concentrations helps maintain the cells in a quiescent non-transformed state. see also Freshney's Culture of Animal cells.