EMD Millipore Corporation scientists (Bedford, MA) investigated the various media and microcarrier components necessary to optimize the large-scale manufacture of mesenchymal stem cell cultures that will be required for future cell-based therapies. To ensure the quality and consistency necessary to grow these cultures within tank bioreactors, the media and matrix components for that scale of undertaking must be optimized. Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were grown on various microcarriers in Petri dishes, spinner flasks, and bioreactors. Human bone marrow-derived MSCs were used to assess various media options in T flasks and spinner flasks. The Cellometer was used to maintain accurate cell counts. The scientists reported that culture performance varied greatly depending on the media and microcarrier formulations used, and more surprisingly, that optimal growing conditions for static conditions did not necessarily correlate to the optimal growing conditions for agitated cultures.

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