Serum-Free Cell Freezing Medium

Long term storage of living cells is a central issue in cell biology and medicine. In addition to the cryoprotectant dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO), foetal bovine serum (FBS) is often added to the freezing medium for the cryoconservation of serum dependent cell lines. FBS, with its high protein content, protects cells against shear forces and gives the medium a desirable osmotic environment with a physiological viscosity.

However, the harvesting of FBS is painful for the foetus and should be avoided for ethical reasons. Also, because the presence of serum in cell culture raises safety problems for the production of biologicals, Creative Diagnostics has developed a novel serum-free medium (SFM) for the cryopreservation formulation of animal cells.

CD serum-free cell freezing medium has been demonstrated to result in high rates of cell viability, proliferation, adherence (in relevant lines), and bioactivity/ expression following freezing and thawing, showing a significant improvement on cell function following cryopreservation in comparison to traditional DMEM + serum + DMSO approaches. Superior results were obtained in comparison with serum-containing freezing media, making this an ideal product for both serum-containing and serum-free applications. It is also provides the advantage of being a completely defined serum-free cryopreservation medium.