Re: What factors are important when chosing a particular growth media for cells

There are many factors important to choosing a cell culture media for your cells, the most 
obvious of which is actually the cell type.  For example, adherent cells require a set of 
ingredients and factors to signal certain proteins to adhere to a surface whereas suspension 
cultures may need a completely different combination of factors. Amino acid content, serum 
protein, “growth factors”, and ions are just some of the items that might make up a growth 
media all of which are important.  
When beginning to undertake a line of experimentation, you must test and properly control for 
effects of the media itself or different additives. For example, endothelial cells will initiate several 
signal transduction pathways in response to the simple addition of blood serum (and oddly, 
don’t grow very well in zero serum).  Many experiments around calcium responses in adherent 
cells show that many cell signaling pathways, second messenger systems, receptor responses, 
and intracellular communication indeed do depend on calcium and other ions.  
There is much information in the scientific literature that can give a good basis and starting point 
for which media are best for different cell lines but in the end, testing and control experiments 
around the question you are investigating with information from previous scientific work and 
information from media manufacturers about content are the best way to determine which media 
to use. 
The internet link here illustrates some of the important reasons behind why it is important to 
carefully choose growth media:  http:
//stemcells.nih.gov/news/catalystSCU.asp 
This link shows just one example of information available from manufacturers around a single 
specific cell type: http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/sigma/
general%20information/vol4%20issue2%20cc%20medium.pdf
Other points to consider are health of the cells, growth rate, and the setpoint of the cells for your 
readout (for example you may not see a response if a variable is already at high levels in the cells 
due to its presence in the nutrient media).
Apologies for not being more precise however there are so many variables in choosing the best 
media and supplements to that media for your cell type and experimental protocol.

Keith Anderson
Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA USA