Hi everyone,

I’m having some trouble with culturing HCT116 cells that we received from a friend’s lab, and I’m hoping someone here might have some insight.

Here’s what happened:

First: The cells were sent to us right after passage. We incubated them for 24 hours, but they didn’t adhere to the bottom of the flask.

Second: The cells were already adhered and filled to the bottom of the flask when they arrived. We passaged them into two new flasks, but after 24 hours, most of the cells died.

We’ve checked for contamination in our lab, and no contamination has been detected. We’re using the same medium and supplements, but they use powdered DMEM and we use liquid DMEM (with the same supplements added expect our dmem with sodium pyruvate and their dmem with sodium bircarbonate).

I’m wondering if it’s something with our products, chemicals, or maybe the incubator, but our CaCo-2 cells are growing perfectly fine in the same conditions.

Has anyone had similar issues with HCT116 cells? Could it be something specific about these cells, or is it possible that there’s an issue with our medium or incubator that only affects HCT116?

Any advice would be really appreciated!

Thanks!