S E R A

serum

Serum is the fraction of blood remaining after coagulation and centrifugation of the cellular parts. It is an extremely complex mixture of plasma proteins, growth factors, hormones etc. that makes it the commonly used supplement in cell culture. Components may vary according to origin, nutritive conditions and processing. Because of these natural variations it is necessary to do batch testing.

The high quality of BIOCHROM sera is based on the careful selection of raw serum, an optimized filtration process and sterile bottling under GMP guidelines.

Growth support level of sera in cell and tissue culture is determined through extensive biological testing, including growth tests with a range of commonly used cell lines. All sera have to test negative for both mycoplasma and bacterial L-forms. Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) and Newborn Calf Serum are examined to exclude viruses such as Bovine Virus Diarrhoea (BVD-MD), Bovine Herpes Virus type 1 (BHV-1) and Parainfluenza Virus type 1 (PI-3). Test results have to prove negative with respect to cytopathogenicity, haemadsorption, and immunoperoxidase staining. Fetal Bovine Serum is screened also for antibodies against these virus types.

For FBS, an independent laboratory raises a range of physicochemical data, provided to customers together with the sample.

Sterile Filtration

Like all liquid products (media, additives), animal sera are sterilized using the membrane filtration technique with pore size <0.2 μm for sera In general, media and additives. For FBS, a filter pore size of 0.04 μm is used in many cases, with 0.1 μm as standard.

Sterility Control

Aliquots of each lot are inoculated into tryptone soya broth, thioglycollate and Sabouraud broth. The full sterility control procedure routinely takes 14 days.

All products of animal source like serum or trypsin are screened through standard procedures for mycoplasma contamination, and bacterial L-forms.

Storage

Due to their sensitivity against enzymatic decomposition, animal sera have to be stored at temperatures < - 20°C. All data prove excellent stability, and performance of the sera for at least 48 months.

Sampling and shipment

Samples are available for all sera, FBS in particular, free of charge. To order test samples, please use the copy form, since it contains all specifications required. Your reservation will be kept for the testing period. Shipment of sera is made at < -20°C on dry ice.

Thawing and Freezing of Sera

To prevent formation of high salt concentrations, the thawing procedure should be kept short. We recommend to warm up the bottle for about half an hour at room temperature (until a liquid film has formed), then putting it into the water bath.

Thawing up to a formation of a liquid film		100 ml	500 ml	1000 ml	500 ml
	at room temperature	35 min	90 min	100 min	90 min
	in a water bath at +15 - + 20°C	5 min	18 min	20 min	18 min
following time for warming up to + 20°C in the water bath		15 min	25 min	30 min	25 min
following time for warming up to + 37°C in the water bath		20 min	35 min	45 min	35 min

The bottles should be immersed in the water bath up to the serum level in the bottle. During warming, the content should be mixed by rotating slowly (do not shake to prevent formation of foam).

Serum should be frozen quickly. A pre-cooling at +2 - +8°C Is recommended- Frequent freezing and thawing cycles have to be avoided: preferably aliquote after first thawing.

	100 ml	500 ml	1000 ml	500 ml
with pre-cooling to +2 - +8°C	120 min	180 min	252 min	180 min
without pre-cooling	150 min	225 min	360 min	225 min

FETAL BOVINE SERUM (FBS)

Storage: - 20°C

Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS)

tested for:

· Endotoxin

· Mycoplasma

· Bacterial L-forms

· Viral contamination

· Viral antibodies against BVD-MD, BHV-1, PI-3

Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS)	Cat.No	Unit
Origin: EU-approved countries	S0113 S0115	100 ml 500 ml

Origin: EU-approved countries (with Certificate of Suitability; CoS)	S0213 S0215	100 ml 500 ml
	S0210	1000 ml
Origin: USA (with Certificate of Suitability; CoS)	S0313 S0315	100 ml 500 ml

Origin: Australia	S0413 S0415 S0410	100 ml 500 ml 1000 ml

Selected pre-treatment for sera

γ-irradiated FBS

On request, γ -irradiation is available for improved viral safely

heat-inactivating

Although in general we do not recommend to heat inactivate sera, the pre-treatment is available on request

dialyzing (exclusion limit10 kD).

Please enquire for conditions and prices.

Furthermore we offer pretested FBS lots suitable for:

· Amniotic Fluid cells

· Hybridoma cells

· Embryonic stem cells ("ES-cells")

FETAL BOVINE SERUM (FBS) Superior

Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS)

standardized Fetal Bovine Serum; EU-approved

Cat.No

Unit

Origin: EU-approved countries

S0613

S0615

100 ml

500 ml

OTHER SERA

SERA

Cat.No

Unit

Newborn Calf Serum (with CoS)

Tested for:

· Mycoplasma

· Bacterial L-Forms

· Viral Contamination

· Viral Antibodies (BVD-MD, BHV-1, PI-3)

S0123

S0125

100 ml

500 ml

Newborn Calf Serum

Fortified with synthetic iron carrier

S0135

S0130

500 ml

1000 ml

Porcine Serum (Newborn)

Tested for:

· Mycoplasma

· Bacterial L-Forms

S0163

S0165

100 ml

500 ml

Donor Horse Serum

Tested for:

· Mycoplasma

· Bacterial L-Forms

S9133

S9135

100 ml

500 ml

Serum mixture for Whole Embryo Culture (WEC)

S9001

100 ml

Other species sera available on request.

On request, heat-inactivated or dialyzed (exclusion limit 10kDalton) sera are available. Please enquire for prices and terms.

Analytical data for all sera are available on request. Please enquire for prices and conditions.