PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Galileo Defendi-Cho
AU  - Timothy M. Gould
TI  - In Vitro Culture of Bovine Fibroblasts using Select Serum-Free Media Supplemented with <em>Chlorella vulgaris</em> Extract
AID  - 10.1101/2021.11.17.469028
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.11.17.469028
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/11/18/2021.11.17.469028.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/11/18/2021.11.17.469028.full
AB  - Standard cell culture practices require addition of animal-derived serum to culture media to achieve adequate cell growth. Typically, 5-10% by volume of fetal bovine serum (FBS) is used, which accounts for a vast majority of the cost of media while also imposing environmental and ethical concerns associated with the use of animal serum. Here we tested the efficacy of culturing cells by replacing serum in the media with algae extract and select additives. Using LC-MS, we compared molecular signatures of FBS to Chlorella algae extracts and identified NAD(H)/NADP(H) as common and relatively abundant features in their characteristic profiles. Bovine fibroblasts, cultured in serum-free media supplemented with C. vulgaris extract and just two growth factors plus insulin, showed significant growth with enhanced viability compared to control cells cultured without serum, albeit still lower than that of controls cultured with 10% FBS. Moreover, C. vulgaris extract enhanced cell viability beyond that of cells cultured with the two growth factors and insulin alone. These results suggest that key components in serum which are essential for cell growth may also be present in C. vulgaris extract, demonstrating that it may be used at least as a partial alternative to serum for cell culture applications.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.