I need to use human M-CSF(100ng/ml) to induce mononuclear cells differentiation into macrophage. But the issue is, should be use human serum or fetal bovine serum. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated!
Hello Marine Ma,
Fetal bovine serum is generally preferred over human serum due to its higher growth factor content, lower cost, and reduced risk of introducing human-specific proteins that can interfere with experimental results. While fetal bovine serum can also introduce bovine proteins, they are less likely to interfere with human immune responses compared to human proteins that might be present in human serum.
Human serum can contain a variety of human proteins that could interfere with the study of induced immune responses. Moreover, human serum can be subject to variability between donors, which can affect the consistency of cell culture experiments, and it is costlier than fetal bovine serum.
So, use of fetal bovine serum would be more appropriate.
Best,
Marine Ma , Malcolm Nobre
1. Best choice: human serum (HS)
Human serum can better simulate the in vivo microenvironment of human immune cells, thereby reducing species-specific differences that may affect monocyte differentiation, survival or functional polarization (such as M1/M2 phenotype).
2. Other options: fetal bovine serum (FBS)
FBS is more widely used, cost-effective, and usually pre-tested for cell culture, making it a common alternative in basic research.
However, FBS contains bovine proteins, cytokines, or growth factors that may interact with the human M-CSF signaling pathway, which may change the differentiation efficiency or macrophage function (such as phagocytosis, cytokine secretion). Given that your material is human PBMC, it is best to choose human serum culture.
If you need to control experimental consumption, you can replace it with FBS, but be careful about x5-10% v/v, heat inactivated), but make sure to select consistent batches and verify differentiation efficiency (for example, by detecting macrophage markers such as CD14, CD68 by flow cytometry or immunostaining).
We (MedChemExpress, MCE) can provide cost-effective bovine serum product (HY-T1000, MCE). If you have any questions about its use, please feel free to contact us.
The answer to this question comes from MedChemExpress (MCE) Technical Support.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Physical Sciences
- Materials Science
- Materials
- Inorganic Materials
- Ceramics
- Glass