B27 problems anyone? - Before vs. after April 2009? (Dec/16/2009 )

Hallo,

I am trying to trace the source of some problems that we have with neuronal differentiation in our lab since april 2009. High on the suspect list are the culture supplements B27 from Gibco and Horse Serum as well as FBS from PAA.

I was wondering whether anybody is using them and did notice any difference before vs. after April 2009, which is apparently when our problems started...?

Any comments are greatly appreciated!

Many Thanks!
dedee

dedee on Dec 16 2009, 08:31 AM said:

Some people claim that there is a lot of variability between lots of B27. There's a paper describing an optimized homemade version of B27 called NS-21 that the authors claim is superior in performance and consistency. The original paper is:
J Neurosci Methods. 2008 June 30; 171(2): 239–247
A word of warning, it will cost quite a bit to make the supplement as described, though it should last a good long while.

Gemini Bio-Products has a B27 supplement they claim is based directly on NS-21 here.