Need to Slow down Cell Culture growth - (Oct/09/2006 )

Hi, I am new to cell culturing and am working with the SH-SY5Y cell line. My culture medium consists of a 1:1 DMEM:F12 media with 15% FBS and 1% pen-strep. My problem is that the cells proliferate entirely too fast (i.e. doubling in less than 24 hrs.). Is there any way to slow their growth? I will be using these cells for transfection with lipofectamine.

Thanks in advance for any help.

i have found that while working with high passage number for SHSY5Y, they grow very fast.

I use DMEM, 10% FBS, 1% P/S for my SHSY5Y cells and they double in 2 days.

Hi there

I haven't used your cell line before, but generally if you reduce the serum concentration, this should slow the growth of the cells- but I would do this gradually as a sudden change may be too much for the cells to cope with.
Also, if you are setting up a plate for transfection- you could try seeding at a much lower cell density so that the cells are about right the next day for transfection- I always thought that growing cells transfected better??

good luck