FBS or FCS for NIH3T3 cells - How to grow these cells optimal (Aug/23/2006 )

Hi all!

Just a quick question.
Anyone experienced with NIH3T3 cells?
I know they should be easy to grow and so on...but ATCC recommends to use FCS instead of FBS for culture.

Can anybody agree or disagree on that? Just don`t want to order the stuff when I don`t have too... .

Thanks al lot!
Cheers

fetal calf serum instead of fetal bovine serum?
I thought that it was the same thing?

They recommend Calf serum !

i.e. not fetal !

I'm sorry for this post, but I was so surprised,and thought that I missed something for years
I never cultured NIH3T3, I can't give you an advice.

yeah true...sorry, posted it wrong..it`s meant to be calf serum... .
So anybody else?

NIH3T3 cells grow like weeds and I have used both FCS and FBS. The source of your serum is however much more important :-

i.e. British £20
European £40
South American £50
US £80-£100
Australian £150
New Zealand £250


And guess what the quality of the serum is in the same descending order as the price. In your case the NIH3T3 cells are not a fastidious line and do not require any great looking after.

FCS and FBS are the same thing. FCS is a misnomer.

My experience has been that the NIH3T3 cells grow better in BCS (Bovine Calf Serum) than they do in FBS. Both, growth rate and maximum cell density are higher in BCS.

I used 3T3's in my dissertation, they grow like crazy. I used IMDM - 10%BCS, I tried FBS but they grew slower. You also have to remember that they are extremely contact inhibited, and once confluent lose viability quickly. Good luck.

I used NIH 3T3 and I always cultured them in Calf serum