In literature, there is a difference in composition of differentiation medium used for mES/OP9 co-culture method. Some have used with beta-mercaptoethanol (beta-ME) where as some did not. I would like to know if there is any role of beta-ME in differentiation?
A lot of stem cells sit in tissues with very low natural O2 content, because the tissues around them are respiring it away quicker than it can diffuse from the blood. For example for the bone marrow the O2 partial pressure is considered to be below 5%. Your standard tissue culture incubator has 20%. So they're suffering oxidative stress.
If you're on a budget, you can mitigate the oxidative stress by adding reducing agents like the bME. But it's much better to use a controlled O2 incubator (that uses N2 to push the O2 out). You'll get way bigger, nicer colonies if you can control your O2 content directly.
Have a look here !!! :-)
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Has_anyone_used_2-mercaptoethanol_in_their_cell_cultures/1
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Correction