I am growing hybridoma in DMEM with 5% FBS and I observe a strange thing. The cells grow very slowly and sometimes not at all, but some kind of particles are being formed in the media. It looks like a fog and increases with time. It is very small particles and do not look like cell debreese. I don't think that it is bacteria because the media is not consumed (ie does not turn yellow) and the particles do not move about. Does anyone have an idea to what this can be?
Slow growing cells with foggy media, but barely visible particles, suggests it could be mycoplasma. You can get kits to check the supernatant of your media such as the one detailed here: http://bio.lonza.com/uploads/tx_mwaxmarketingmaterial/Lonza_ManualsProductInstructions_MycoAlert_Mycoplasma_Detection_Kit.pdf although there are many other kits on the market. If this is a reoccuring problem with a cell line you have, try decontaminating everything you use in cell culture and going back to an early passage cryopreserved culture. If this does not help, or is not possible, I think there are protocols out there for treating mycoplasma infected cells.
Sorry to hear that, its a terrible thing and i suggest you to use Plasmocin in your media_ it works well so far (i mean 5yrs:) http://www.invivogen.com/plasmocin
Good luck
Also check this one too
"Elimination of Mycoplasma Contamination in Cell Cultures"
http://www.roche-applied-science.com/PROD_INF/BIOCHEMI/No.1_96/p48-51.pdf
I thought that infections in cultures always (or at least as good as always) resulted in a decrease in pH due to nutrient consumption. I interprate your comments that this is not the case with mycoplasma?
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