Animal Serum Alternatives to FBS

Chicken serum can be used as an FBS alternative for the support of cells in culture and contains factors such as proteins, hormones, and nutrients important for cell growth. A specific use for chicken serum is in radioisotope dilution assay of serum vitamin B12 [1].

Chicken serum is also available in custom formats; call your local representative for more details.

1. Newmark PA, Green R, Musso AM, Mollin DL. (1973) A comparison of the properties of chicken serum with other vitamin B12 binding proteins used in radioisotope dilution methods for measuring serum vitamin B12 concentrations. British Journal of Haematology 25: 359–373.

Goat serum can be used as a cell culture supplement, providing nutrients, hormones, and enzymes important to cell growth. In addition, Thermo Fisher Scientific offers 10% normal goat serum, which can be used as a blocking solution for immunohistochemical studies.

There are also several common and more specific uses for goat serum:

• Suitable replacement for FBS on most cell lines and primary cultures for biomedical research (virus isolation and identification, virological studies, etc.) [1]
• Used as an effective NBCS replacement for the culture of fish cells [2]
• Could be successfully used in place of fetal bovine serum in the growth medium for long-term in vitro propagation of T. annulata schizonts [3]

Goat serum is also available in custom formats; call your local representative for more details.

1. Paranjape S. (2004) Goat serum: an alternative to fetal bovine serum in biomedical research. Indian J Exp Biol 42(1):26–35. 
2. Nanda PK, Swain P, Nayak SK, et al. (2009) Goat serum as an alternative to establish cell culture from Indian major carp, Cirrhinus mrigala. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim 45(3–4):148–151. 
3. Sharma G, Sharma RD, Nichani AK. (1998) Successful long-term in vitro cultivation of Theileria annulata schizonts in media supplemented with homologous and heterologous sera. Vet Parasitol 79(2):135–141. 

As a cell culture supplement, sheep serum can provide an array of nutrients, proteins, and other factors necessary for cell growth and viability. In addition, a specific suggested use for sheep serum is in antibody production [1].

Sheep serum is also available in custom formats; call your local representative for more details.

1. Sun T. Evaluation of a Vaccine Against Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida in Sheep. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Issue 7/02/09.

As a cell culture media supplement, porcine serum can provide nutrients, proteins, and other factors necessary for supporting cell growth and proliferation.

In addition, porcine serum has been used in several specific applications:

• Used with hormones in the growth of rat mammary tumor epithelial cells [1]
• Required for the growth of rat cervical epithelial cells [2]
• Satisfactory and consistent use in chromosome studies, indicating potential applications for lymphocyte culture work [3]

Thermo Fisher Scientific also offers normal porcine serum, which can be used as a blocking solution for immunohistochemical studies.

1. Sinha DK, Pazik JE. (1986) Role of serum and hormones during the growth and development of rat mammary tumor epithelial cells in collagen gel culture. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol 22(9):519–524. 
2. Wright TC Jr, Nahabedian C. (1986) Growth requirements and characterization of rat cervical epithelial cells in culture. J Cell Physiol 126(1):10–20. 
3. Victor R, Rao P, Vasudev P, et al. (2002) Use of Porcine Serum in Lymphocyte Culture. Int J Hum Genet 2(4):273–274.