Essential 8 Medium

Control the level of stress on your cells during single-cell passaging with Gibco Essential 8 Medium and Gibco RevitaCell Supplement. Together, they help minimize the impact of stress from single-cell passaging, enabling maximal cell viability and more efficient recovery of cells.

  • Minimize the impact of stress—RevitaCell Supplement supports cells in stressful applications through a blended formulation of a more specific Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) inhibitor coupled with antioxidants and free radical scavengers
  • Non-addictive—shown to have a non-addictive impact on downstream cell utility, unlike other ROCK inhibitors
  • Expanded applications—enables use of Essential 8 Medium in applications where cells need additional support

View application note   View protocol

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

Support through stressful events including single-cell passaging

RevitaCell Supplement can be used for routine single-cell passaging of PSCs in Essential 8 Medium, providing efficient recovery of cells while retaining normal morphology, pluripotency, and karyotype. Furthermore, the prosurvival small molecule contained within this cocktail is shown to be a more selective ROCK inhibitor, minimizing the off-target pathways affected.

Line chart shows percent culture conflucency as a function of time for PSCS cultured in Essential 8 Medium with RevitaCell Supplement.

Figure 1. Gibco RevitaCell Supplement shows utility in single-cell passaging using Gibco TrypLE Select Enzyme. iPSCs generated using episomal vectors were passaged using TrypLE Select Enzyme and seeded at a density of 25,000 viable cells/cm2 onto culture plates coated with truncated recombinant human vitronectin, in Gibco Essential 8 Medium with 1X RevitaCell Supplement. Following a 24-hour recovery, iPSCs were fed with Essential 8 Medium alone for the remainder of their time in culture.

Six panel phase-contrast image series showing iPSC recovery from 0 hours to 114 hours following single cell passaging.

Figure 2. Normal morphology is retained following single-cell passaging using Gibco Essential 8 Medium plus Gibco RevitaCell Supplement. iPSCs generated using episomal vectors were passaged using Gibco TrypLE Select Enzyme and seeded at a density of 25,000 viable cells/cm2 onto culture plates coated with truncated recombinant human vitronectin, in Essential 8 Medium with 1X RevitaCell Supplement. Following a 24-hour recovery, iPSCs were fed with Essential 8 Medium alone for the remainder of their time in culture.

Complete media system

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

Note: For single-cell passaging in Essential 8 medium in the absence of a ROCK inhibitor, rhLaminin-521 matrix can be used with Essential 8 Medium. This protocol would not require addition of RevitaCell Supplement. View this protocol reference

Single-cell passaging with Essential 8 Medium Application Note

Culture medium

Supplemental reagent

Passaging reagent

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