Primary Human Cardiac Myocytes and Myocyte Growth Media

These products are available in the US, Canada, and select European countries.

• Cardiac Myocyte Culture System
• Quality Control for Human Cardiac Myocytes and Growth Media
• Primary Cardiac Myocyte Culture Materials

Cardiac Myocyte Cell Culture System

The human cardiac (heart) muscle is composed of single cardiac myocytes. Cardiac myocytes are high energy cells responsible for carrying the most physically energetic cells in the body because they carry out the myogenic contraction of the whole cardiac muscle.

PromoCell^® Human Cardiac Myocytes are generated from normal human ventricle tissue of the adult heart. Unlike freshly isolated rod-shaped myocytes, Human Cardiac Myocytes are produced using a protocol that makes them amenable to long-term experiments. All Human Cardiac Myocytes are cryopreserved at passage 2 (P2) shortly after isolation, using proprietary, serum-free freezing medium, Cryo-SFM. Each thawed cryovial contains at least 500,000 viable cells. Human Cardiac Myocytes are also available as proliferating cell cultures made from cryopreserved cells that have been thawed and cultured for three days in our labs.

• Cultivation Protocol for Human Cardiac Myocytes

The Myocyte Growth Medium is optimized for growing primary human cardiac myocytes in vitro, but can also be used for primary porcine and rat myocytes. The Myocyte Growth Medium is available in two formats: Medium (ready-to-use) and Medium Kit. The Medium (ready-to-use) option includes a 500 mL bottle of Basal Medium and one vial of SupplementMix. The Medium Kit includes a 500 mL bottle of Basal Medium and the SupplementPack, which is a set of individual vials with pre-measured supplements that gives the user full control over the final media formulation. Adding the SupplementMix or the SupplementPack to the Basal Medium constitutes the complete Myocyte Growth Medium. The Basal Medium (with or without phenol red), SupplementMix, and SupplementPack can also be purchased separately.

Cardiac Myocyte Growth Medium Supplementation Details

The Myocyte Growth Medium contains all the components necessary for the optimal growth of human cardiac myocytes (see the table below for details). Myocyte Growth Medium does not contain antibiotics or antimycotics and is formulated for use in an incubator with 5 % atmospheric CO₂.

Final Cardiac Myocyte Growth Medium supplement concentrations
(after addition)

Preparing Supplemented Media for Cardiac Myocyte Culture

• Thaw the Myocyte Growth Medium SupplementMix or SupplementPack at 15 – 25 °C.
• Aseptically mix the supplement solutions by pipetting up and down gently.
• Transfer the entire contents of each supplement to the Myocyte Basal Medium.
• Close the bottle and swirl gently to form a homogenous mixture.

Storage and Stability of Myocyte Products

• Upon arrival, immediately store the Myocyte Basal Medium in the dark at 4 – 8 °C; do not freeze. Store the Myocyte Growth Medium SupplementMix or SupplementPack at -20 °C.
• If stored as directed, the products are stable until the expiration date stated on the label.
• Once supplements are added to the Myocyte Basal Medium, the shelf life of the complete medium is six weeks at 4 – 8 °C. Do not freeze the complete medium.
• To use, aliquot and prewarm just the required of the complete Myocyte Growth Medium and maintain the remaining medium refrigerated at 4 – 8 °C.
• Upon arrival, store cryopreserved cells in liquid nitrogen or seed directly.
• Proliferating cells must be processed immediately.

Quality Control for Human Cardiac Myocytes and Myocyte
Growth Media

Human Cardiac Myocytes Quality Control

The following rigid quality control tests are performed for each lot of Human Cardiac Myocytes:

• Cell morphology, adherence rate, and cell viability testing
• Flow cytometry analyses for cell-type specific markers such as sarcomeric alpha-actinin and slow muscle myosin
• Growth performance testing through multiple passages up to 15 population doublings (PD) under culture conditions without antibiotics and antimycotics
• Testing for the absence of HIV-1, HIV-2, HBV, HCV, HTLV-1, HTLV-2 and microbial contaminants (fungi, bacteria, and mycoplasma)
• A detailed certificate of analysis (CoA) for each lot is available for download.

Human Cardiac Myocyte Specifications

Myocyte Growth Medium Quality Control

All lots of Myocyte Growth Media are subjected to comprehensive quality control testing. These tests check for growth-promoting activity, adherence rate, and expected cell morphology using cultured primary human cardiac myocytes. Approved in-house lots of media are used as a reference. Additionally, microbial testing ensures that all lots of Myocyte Growth Media are free of microbial contaminants (fungi, bacteria, mycoplasma).

Intended Use for Human Cardiac Myocyte Culture System Products

Human Cardiac Myocytes and Myocyte Growth Media are intended for in vitro use only and not for diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. For safety precautions please see appropriate MSDS.

Note: PromoCell^® media have low or zero serum content and are not suitable for trypsin neutralization (for example, when subculturing the cells). Instead we recommend using our DetachKit (C-41200, C-41210, C-41220), which contains HEPES BSS, Trypsin/EDTA and Trypsin Neutralizing Solution.