Hi all,
I am planning to use 1-2% methyl cellulose (15 cP, Sigma) to increase the viscosity of my cell culture media (EGM, Sigma). In the website of the sigma, they describe 2 methods to prepare methyl cellulose solution in water:
https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/content/dam/sigma-aldrich/docs/Sigma/Product_Information_Sheet/2/m0512pis.pdf
In both methods, water needs to be heated over 80 oC to dissolve methyl cellulose in water. Since I will be using cell culture media to dissolve methyl cellulose, I wonder if there is a 'milder way' to prepare this solution?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
Utku.
Hi Utku, you can make a stock solution of methyl cellulose in PBS or carbonate buffer and dilute that stock into your tissues culture.
Alternatively you can use PEG.
Dr. Sonmez,
I have found that you can make a methyl cellulose solution in culture media by first adding the methyl celluose to a new bottle of base media (to make the desired concentration of methyl cellulose), followed by a significant amount of time stirring. Once dissolved, you can use a sterile filter to ensure the sterility of the media, and then add the desired concentrations of serum and other supplements under sterile conditions. This can be done at room temp or can be carried out at a modest temperature such as 50 degrees celcius. Either way, the important feature of this method is that the methyl cellulose solution is made before any temperature sensitive components are added to the media. As a final note, should you decide to use this method, this is quite time consuming and should be done well in advance (48 hours) prior to the start of your planned experiment
Hope this helps,
Andrew Cannon
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