Essential 8 Medium—Superior Recovery During Adaptation

The Gibco Essential 8 Adaptation Kit includes Gibco Essential 8 Medium and recombinant human rhLaminin-521 (rhLaminin-521) for optimal survival during transition from a feeder-dependent to feeder-free culture system.

  • Confidently transition—adapt cells from feeder-dependent to feeder-free culture system with minimal effort and maximum cell viability
  • Physiologically relevant—expand cells with minimal differentiation
  • Scalable—passage stem cell lines as single cells with no impact to genetic stability

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Gibco PSC Media are manufactured according to cGMP for medical devices, 21 CFR Part 820

Confidently support cells during transition from feeder-based to feeder-free culture conditions

rhLaminin-521 has been proven to promote cellular survival under stressful conditions in the absence of small molecule inhibitors (Figure 1). In addition, rhLaminin-521 has been shown to support PSC growth for >20 passages without any signs of karyotypic abnormalities and to maintain the ability of PSCs to differentiate into all three germ line lineages (Figure 2). When used in conjunction with Essential 8 Medium, rhLaminin-521 enables a trouble-free transition from feeder-based media to a xeno-free, feeder-free media system.

Optimum recovery of PSCs during transition to Gibco Essential 8 Medium in the absence of small molecule inhibitors

Figure 1. Optimum recovery of PSCs during transition to Gibco Essential 8 Medium in the absence of small molecule inhibitors. An episomal CD34+-derived iPSC line was cultured on mouse irradiated feeders in KSR-based medium prior to transition to Essential 8 Medium. For transition, colonies were passaged using collagenase IV per the protocol provided with the Essential 8 Adaptation Kit and seeded into Essential 8 Medium in wells coated with rhLaminin-521 (green diamonds), Gibco Geltrex matrix (blue circles), or rhVTN-N (red triangles). Confluency of cultures was monitored using the IncuCyte ZOOM™ system post-passage (n=3 per condition).

Four panel stem cell imaging results showing human embryonic stem cells stained using SSEA4 marker (green), OCT4 marker (red), DAPI (blue), and overlay of all three images.

Figure 2. Human ESCs maintain expression of self-renewal factors. Human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) were grown under feeder-free conditions using Gibco Essential 8 Medium for 20 passages in wells coated with rhLaminin-521. The cells were stained for pluripotency markers using the PSC 4-Marker ICC Kit.

Complete media system

The following components are recommended to create a complete media system for routine expansion and maintenance of PSCs with Essential 8 Medium.

Essential 8 Adaptation Kit Protocol

Matrix

Passaging reagent

Resources

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.