Eagle's minimal essential medium

Bottle of DMEM cell culture medium

Minimal essential medium (MEM) is a synthetic cell culture medium developed by Harry Eagle first published in 1959 in Science that can be used to maintain cells in tissue culture.[1] It is based on six salts and glucose described in Earle's salts in 1934: calcium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium sulfate, sodium chloride, sodium phosphate and sodium bicarbonate. The medium is further supplemented with thirteen essential amino acids, and eight vitamins: thiamine (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), nicotinamide (vitamin B3), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyrodoxine (vitamin B6), folic acid (vitamin B9), choline, and myo-inositol (originally known as vitamin B8). Many variations of this medium have been developed, mostly adding additional vitamins, amino acids, and/or other nutrients.[2]

Eagle developed his earlier "Basal Medium Eagle" (BME) in 1955–1957 on mouse L cells[3] and human HeLa cells,[4] with 13 essential amino acids and 9 vitamins added. BME contains biotin (vitamin B7), which Eagle later found to be superfluous. His 1959 "minimal essential medium" doubles the amount of many amino acids to "conform more closely to the protein composition of cultured human cells. This permits the cultures to be kept for somewhat longer periods without refeeding".[1]

DMEM (Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium) was originally suggested as Eagle's medium with a 'fourfold concentration of amino acids and vitamins' by Renato Dulbecco and G. Freeman published in 1959.[5] The commercial versions of this medium have additional modifications, see an example in the table below.[6]

α-MEM (minimal essential medium Eagle – alpha modification) is a medium based on MEM published in 1971 by Clifford P. Stanners and colleagues.[7] It contains more non-essential amino acids, sodium pyruvate, and vitamins (ascorbic acid (vitamin C), biotin, and cyanocobalamin) compared with MEM. It can also come with lipoic acid and nucleosides.[8][9]

Glasgow's MEM (Glasgow minimal essential medium) is yet another modification, prepared by Ian MacPherson and Michael Stoker.[10]

Composition

One liter of each medium contains (in milligrams):

Medium BME[11] MEM[12] α-MEMa[13] DMEM[6]
Glycine 50 30
L-alanine 25
L-arginine hydrochloride 21 126 126 84
L-asparagine-H2O 50
L-aspartic acid 30
L-cysteine hydrochloride-H2O 100
L-cystine 2HCl 16 31 31 63
L-glutamic acid 75
L-glutamine 292 292 292 584
L-histidine 8 31 42
L-histidine hydrochloride-H2O 42 42
L-isoleucine 26 52 52 105
L-leucine 26 52 52 105
L-lysine hydrochloride 36.47 73 73 146
L-methionine 7.5 15 15 30
L-phenylalanine 16.5 32 32 66
L-proline 40
L-serine 25 42
L-threonine 24 48 48 95
L-tryptophan 4 10 10 16
L-tyrosine disodium salt dihydrate 26 52 52 104
L-valine 23.5 46 46 94
Ascorbic acid 50
Biotin 1 0.1
Choline chloride 1 1 1 4
D-calcium pantothenate 1 1 1 4
Folic acid 1 1 1 4
Niacinamide 1 1 1 4
Pyridoxal hydrochloride 1 1 1 4
Riboflavin 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.4
Thiamine hydrochloride 1 1 1 4
Vitamin B12 1.36
i-Inositol 2 2 2 7.2
Calcium chloride (CaCl2, anhyd.) 200 200 200 200
Ferric nitrate (Fe(NO3)3·9H2O) 0.1
Magnesium sulfate (MgSO4, anhyd.) 97.67 97.67 97.67 97.67
Potassium chloride (KCl) 400 400 400 400
Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) 2200 2200 2200 3700
Sodium chloride (NaCl) 6800 6800 6800 6400
Sodium phosphate monobasic (NaH2PO4-H2O) 140 140 140 125
D-Glucose (dextrose) 1000 1000 1000 1000
Lipoic acid 0.2
Phenol red 10 10 10 15
Sodium pyruvate 110 110

See also

  • RPMI 1640 (Roswell Park Memorial Institute medium), for lymph cells

References

  1. ^ a b Eagle H (1959). "Amino acid metabolism in mammalian cell cultures". Science. 130 (3373): 432–7. Bibcode:1959Sci...130..432E. doi:10.1126/science.130.3373.432. PMID 13675766.
  2. ^ Yao, T; Asayama, Y (April 2017). "Animal-cell culture media: History, characteristics, and current issues". Reproductive Medicine and Biology. 16 (2): 99–117. doi:10.1002/rmb2.12024. PMC 5661806. PMID 29259457.
  3. ^ Eagle H (1955). "The specific amino acid requirements of a mammalian cell (strain L) in tissue culture". J Biol Chem. 214 (2): 839–52. doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(18)70932-0. PMID 14381421.
  4. ^ Eagle H (1955). "The specific amino acid requirements of a human carcinoma cell (Stain HeLa) in tissue culture". J Exp Med. 102 (1): 37–48. doi:10.1084/jem.102.1.37. PMC 2136494. PMID 14392239.
  5. ^ Dulbecco R, Freeman G (1959). "Plaque production by the polyoma virus". Virology. 8 (3): 396–7. doi:10.1016/0042-6822(59)90043-1. PMID 13669362.
  6. ^ a b "11885 - DMEM, low glucose, pyruvate (Formulation)". Thermo Fisher Scientific. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  7. ^ Stanners CP; Eliceiri GL; Green H (1971). "Two types of ribosome in mouse-hamster hybrid cells". Nat New Biol. 230 (10): 52–4. doi:10.1038/newbio230052a0. PMID 5279808.
  8. ^ "α-MEM" (PDF). ITW reagents.
  9. ^ "Alpha MEM with Nucleosides". Stem Cell Tech.
  10. ^ "Glasgow's Modified Eagle's Medium 51492C". Sigma-Aldrich. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  11. ^ "Basal Medium Eagle (BME)". Thermofisher.
  12. ^ "MEM". Thermofisher.
  13. ^ "MEM α, no nucleosides". Thermofisher.


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