I have the human microglia cell line (HMC3), they are cultured in EMEM medium supplemented with 10% FBS and antibiotics (100 IU/ml of penicillin and 100 μg/ml of streptomycin). I'm planning to use an ELISA kit to measure IL-6 and IL-8 release. The question is, should I use a serum-free medium for these experiments? Can FBS interfere with these experiments?
Dear Dr. Marta Jóźwiak-Bębenista
Use of serum-free medium to measure IL-6 and IL-8 release would help. But absence of FBS during stimulation of cells may deprive the cells of nutrients thereby suppressing the cells in their functions to produce cytokines. Depriving the cells of FBS for a short period (say less than 24 hours) may be acceptable, but longer periods of stimulation without FBS may not.
I would suggest you add reduced amount of serum (say 0.5-1%) if you are planning for a longer stimulation period. At the same time, you run a control with media containing 0.5-1% FBS but without cells along with your test samples. This will help to eliminate the background.
Best.
Dear Malcolm Nobre, I am planning a 24-hour cell stimulation. I'll try to do it with your suggestion. Thank you very much!
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