I'm using DMEM with glutamine and 10% FBS. Since a month now, the growth rate has seriously dropped. No contamination has been detected. What can I do to make them grow quicker?
Do not remove spent media from the culture flask/dish completely. Instead mix the new media and spent one in the ratio of 3:1, since growing cells themselves secrete growth factors that act in an autocrine manner.
You could add 10ng/mL of basic FGF. It might increase growth rate.
The main question is why the growth rate decrease ? If your cells have too many passages it might explain why they do not growth. And it might be difficult to increase growth rate.
When you take about contamination, do you mean that you also have tested the presence of mycoplasma in your culture medium? I also agree with Stéphane about the passage number. In my lab we stop to use fibroblasts cell lines after 10 passages. Concerning the add of other molecule in your culture medium, be carefull with the goal of your study...Adding growth factor or high level of FCS could modify the basal physiology of your cells... Regards, Gwen.
Do not remove spent media from the culture flask/dish completely. Instead mix the new media and spent one in the ratio of 3:1, since growing cells themselves secrete growth factors that act in an autocrine manner.