This paper might be usefull if you are interested in the composition.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2678682/
It is quite specifically meant for the culturing of neurons. I am not sure but I reckon there might be other supplements available that are optimized for microglia culture.
Best,
Pieter
Dear Kaushiki,
If you want to know more about the original design of B27 supplement you can refer to the following original papers from Gregory Brewer
Brain Res. 1989 Aug 7;494(1):65-74.
Survival and growth of hippocampal neurons in defined medium at low density: advantages of a sandwich culture technique or low oxygen.
Brewer GJ1, Cotman CW.
Optimized survival of hippocampal neurons in B27-supplemented neurobasal™, a new serum-free medium combination
G. J. Brewer1,*,
J. R. Torricelli1,
E. K. Evege2 and
P. J. Price2
B27 keeps being one of the most widely used neuronal supplements but, as Pieter mentioned above, other options are becoming available.
Coming back to your question, I've never used B27 to support the growth of any type of glia since they normally do well in media supplemented with 5-10% of horse serum (also calf serum).
Nevertheless, the high amount of antioxidants present in the B27 ould help to support more healthy microglia in culture.
I am also looking for any alternative option instead of B27 because that is expensive. Does anyone have an idea?
Sazan
Hi all, Thanks for your replies. I particularly asked this question because I am looking for protocols to isolate and culture adult microglial cells from mice and came upon this paper where they have used B27 supplement for the culture :
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165027009003653
That's why I was curious to know in what way B27 helps microglia ?
You can do the culture just with 10% heat inactivated fetal bovine serum in DMEM/F-12 media. If you want a defined media you can use the N-2 supplement, but this one is also expensive.
Thank you Raul. I am trying to culture the isolated cells in 15% FBS/DMEM but the cells are dying after 24 hours. Am still struggling with it.
B-27 Serum-Free Supplement is used for growth and long-term viability of neurons. it also Accelerated neurite outgrowth. Here the link of the composition of B-27, I found it useful https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/technical-resources/media-formulation.250.html.
I have experienced to culture primary astrocytes (one kind of glial cell), there fore i use 15% of FBS in DMEM media+1% antibiotic without adding any other factors.
Sazan Ismael Here's a home-brew protocol for B27:
https://hannalabweb.weizmann.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/HANNA-LAB-B22-B27-PROTOCOL-V3.pdf