Fetal bovine serum (FBS): Past – present – future (original) (raw)

Authors

Jan van der Valk The 3Rs-Centre Utrecht Life Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Karen Bieback Institute of Transfusion Medicine and Immunology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
Christiane Buta SET Foundation, Frankfurt a. M., Germany
Brett Cochrane Animal Free Research UK, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, UK
Wilhelm G. Dirks Leibniz-Institute DSMZ, German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany
Jianan Fu PAN-Biotech Ltd, Aidenbach, Germany
James J. Hickman NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
Christiane Hohensee Invitro+Jobs, The Federal Association of People for Animal Rights Germany (PARG), Aachen, Germany
Roman Kolar Animal Welfare Academy, German Animal Welfare Federation, Neubiberg, Germany
Manfred Liebsch Königs Wusterhausen, Germany
Francesca Pistollato Directorate F – Health, Consumers and Reference Materials, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, VA, Italy
Markus Schulz BASF SE, Experimental Toxicology and Ecology, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Daniel Thieme Department of Ophthalmology, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany
Tilo Weber Animal Welfare Academy, German Animal Welfare Federation, Neubiberg, Germany
Joachim Wiest cellasys GmbH, Kronburg, Germany
Stefan Winkler Institute of Applied Cell Culture (IAZ), Munich, Germany
Gerhard Gstraunthaler Division of Physiology, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

DOI:

Keywords:

serum-free, cell culture, databases, 3Rs, replace

Abstract

The supplementation of culture medium with fetal bovine serum (FBS, also referred to as “fetal calf serum”) is still common practice in cell culture applications. Due to a number of disadvantages in terms of quality and reproducibility of in vitro data, animal welfare concerns, and in light of recent cases of fraudulent marketing, the search for alternatives and the development of serum-free medium formulations has gained global attention. Here, we report on the 3rd Workshop on FBS, Serum Alternatives and Serum-free Media, where regulatory aspects, the serum dilemma, alternatives to FBS, case-studies of serum-free in vitro applications, and the establishment of serum-free databases were discussed.
The whole process of obtaining blood from a living calf fetus to using the FBS produced from it for scientific purposes is de facto not yet legally regulated despite the existing EU-Directive 2010/63/EU on the use of animals for scientific purposes. Together with the above-mentioned challenges, several strategies have been developed to reduce or replace FBS in cell culture media in terms of the 3Rs (Refinement, Reduction, Replacement). Most recently, releasates of activated human donor thrombocytes (human platelet lysates) have been shown to be one of the most promising serum alternatives when chemically-defined media are not yet an option. Additionally, new developments in cell-based assay techniques, advanced organ-on-chip and microphysiological systems are covered in this report. Chemically-defined serum-free media are shown to be the ultimate goal for the majority of culture systems, and examples are discussed.

License

Articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is appropriately cited (CC-BY). Copyright on any article in ALTEX is retained by the author(s).

How to Cite

van der Valk, J., Bieback, K., Buta, C., Cochrane, B., Dirks, W. G., Fu, J., Hickman, J. J., Hohensee, C., Kolar, R., Liebsch, M., Pistollato, F., Schulz, M., Thieme, D., Weber, T., Wiest, J., Winkler, S., & Gstraunthaler, G. (2018). Fetal bovine serum (FBS): Past – present – future. ALTEX - Alternatives to Animal Experimentation, 35(1), 99-118. https://doi.org/10.14573/altex.1705101