Other Classic Media

Ames' Medium
BGJb Medium (Fitton-Jackson Modification)
Click's Medium
CMRL-1066 Medium
Fischer's Medium
Glascow Minimum Essential Medium (GMEM)
Iscove's Modified Dulbecco's Medium (IMDM)
L-15 Medium (Leibovitz)
McCoy's 5A Modified Medium
NCTC Medium
Swim's S-77 Medium
Waymouth Medium
William's Medium E

Ames' Medium

The retina is an important in vitro model for the central nervous system. It is more readily accessible than most nervous tissue and is strong enough to remain intact during manipulations. The retina of the rabbit commonly contains no penetrating blood vessels, but is nurtured by diffusion from capillary networks on either side. For this reason, the tissue will survive and functions without circulating blood, as long as it is bathed in a medium that closely resembles in vivo conditions.

Ames' medium was formulated to support retinal tissue in relatively short-term culture. Rabbit retina has been incubated in Ames' medium for over 2 days with its metabolism and electrical responses to light stimuli well maintained.  This mixture is a medium of choice for maintaining central nervous system tissue in vitro.

BGJb Medium (Fitton-Jackson Modification)

Medium BGJ was originally developed by Biggers, Gwatkin and Judah in the early 1960's at the Wistar Institute. Subsequent studies resulted in a modification designated BGJb which has been used for supporting cultures of cartilaginous embryonic bone. An additional modification, developed by Sylvia Fitton-Jackson at Strangeways Laboratory in England, is further enriched over the prior formulae. Additional amino acids and vitamins, and increased buffering capacity conferred by the phosphates in the Fitton-Jackson modification, create conditions that permit calcification, as well as, growth of cartilaginous embryonic bone.

CMRL-1066 Medium

CMRL-1066 is a chemically defined medium developed in the late 1960's at the Connaugh Medical Research Laboratories. A less complex and extensively modified version of Medium 199, CMRL-1066 was designed initially for use with mouse L-cells in non-supplemented culture. Although developed for use in serum-free culture, CMRL-1066 can be supplemented with serum and used to support the growth of many cell types.

Fischer's Medium

Fischer's Medium was originally formulated to support serial propagation of cells from leukemic mice. In initial studies, cells in culture were examined for resistance to chemotherapeutic agents. While these studies were typically carried out in whole animals, Fischer's medium made it possible to conduct parallel studies in vitro. Fischer's medium supports clonal reproduction of cells, particularly lymphoblasts from primary explants or from cells in culture.

Glascow Minimum Essential Medium (GMEM)

Glascow Minimum Essential Medium was originally developed by Ian MacPherson and Michael Stoker as a modification of Eagle's medium (BME). The modifications included adding 10% tryptose phosphate and twice the normal concentration of amino acids and vitamins. This medium was used to study the genetic factors affecting cell competence. Polyoma virus was used to transform four fibroblast clones from a culture of baby hamster kidney cells

Iscove's Modified Dulbecco's Medium (IMDM)

Guilber and Iscove demonstrated that precursor cells of erythrocytes and macrophages could be cultured in a totally defined serum-free medium supplemented with albumin, transferrin, lecithin, and selenium.  This medium is a modification of Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's medium (DME) and contains selenium, additional amino acids and vitamins, sodium pyruvate, HEPES buffer and potassium nitrate instead of ferric nitrate.

Studies have demonstrated that Iscove's medium supports murine B lymphocytes, hematopoeitic tissue from bone marrow, B cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide, T lymphocytes, and a variety of hybrid cells.

L-15 Medium (Leibovitz)

L-15 Medium (Leibovitz) was originally formulated for use in carbon dioxide free systems requiring sodium bicarbonate supplementation. L-15 is buffered by its complement of salts, free base amino acids and galactose (in place of glucose). When properly supplemented, L-15 medium supports established cell lines, such as HEp-2 and LLC-MK₂, and primary explants of embryonic and adult human tissue. Many viruses have been successfully cultivated in this medium.

McCoy's 5A Modified Medium

In 1959, McCoy and his coworkers reported the amino acid requirements for in vitro cultivation of Novikoff Hepatoma cells. These studies were performed using Basal Medium 5A, which was subsequently modified to create a new medium known as McCoy's 5A medium. Hsu and Kellogg employed this medium to support the growth of primary cultures derived from normal bone marrow, skin, gingiva, testes, mouse kidney, omentum, adrenal glands, lung, spleen, rat embryos, and other tissues.
 

NCTC Medium

NCTC-135 was developed by the Tissue Culture Section, Laboratory of Biology, National Cancer Institute (NCI), Bethesda, MD. NCTC-135 is a modification of NCTC-109 medium, also developed by the NCI. NCTC-135 differs from NCTC-109 in that the L-cysteine-HCl, which is toxic to certain cell types, was replaced with L-cystine.  NCTC-109 and the 135 modification were formulated to establish and maintain a strain of mouse cells (L929) in a chemically defined and serum free medium.  Successful establishment of L 929 cells led to further nutritional and metabolic studies and the establishment of at least ten other cell lines adapted to this medium.

Swim's S-77 Medium

Swim's S-77 medium (designated S-77) is a modification of MEM Eagle's medium that lacks biotin and has increased levels of amino acids and inositol. This medium was designed to support suspension cultures of cells derived from the Novikoff hepatoma. It is an incomplete basal medium, requiring additions of L-glutamine, L-cystine, calcium chloride and other components. When properly supplemented, Swim's S-77 medium has been used to establish, in culture, a number of stable cell lines (N1-31, N1-S1/FUdr) derived from the Novikoff hepatoma.

Waymouth Medium

Waymouth Medium MB 752/1 was developed as a totally defined synthetic medium for the cultivation of mouse L929 cells in a serum-free environment. Clones of L929 cells, conditioned to grow in serum-supplemented or serum free medium were cultivated for more than thirty passages in serum-free Waymouth medium and demonstrated a doubling time of approximately 24 hours. The applicability of Waymouth Medium MF 752/1 has been extended to include whole organ culture, establishment of carcinoma cell lines from pleural effusions, and the growth of potentially tumorigenic cells prior to their assessment in vitro.

William's Medium E

In 1971, Williams et. al. described a procedure for enriching isolated hepatocyte cultures for poylgonal epithelial cells and reducing the number of contaminating fibroblasts. This method was a sequential plating technique based on the observation that fibroblast-like cells adhere to a substrate more rapidly than epithelial cells.  The isolated epithelial cells resulting from this treatment could then be cultured in a rich medium designate William's Medium D. Newborn animals were the source of cells used in these studies, as they were in most studies of liver cell culture. Since newborn liver in not functionally mature, further studies were conducted by Williams and Gunn to explore the possibility of culturing adult liver cells on a long-term basis. The medium developed during the course of these studies was designated William's Medium E. It has been shown to support the growth in long-term culture of adult liver epithelial cells.