ABSTRACT
The development of culture media for mammalian cells has been studied for more than 50 years. The first attempts at culturing animal cells in vitro made use of biological fluids, such as serum and other blood or tissue extracts. This was followed by the attempt to culture animal cells in defined media through the analysis of the contents of biological fluids (1). Another approach, developed by Eagle, consisted of finding the minimum ingredients that were essential for growth, which led to the development of Eagle’s minimal essential medium (EMEM) (2). This medium consisted of 13 amino acids, 8 vitamins, 6 ionic species, and dialyzed serum to provide the necessary undefined components required for growth.
