DMEM

Eagle's minimal essential medium

Eagle's minimal essential medium

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Minimal essential medium (MEM) is a synthetic cell culture medium developed by Harry Eagle first published in 1959[1] in Science that can be used to maintain cells in tissue culture. It is based on 6 salts and glucose described in Earle's salts in 1934: (calcium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium sulfate, sodium chloride, sodium phosphate and sodium bicarbonate), supplemented with 13 essential amino acids, and 8 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]
Glycine50 30
L-alanine25
L-arginine hydrochloride21126126 84
L-asparagine-H2O50
L-aspartic acid30
L-cysteine hydrochloride-H2O100
L-cystine 2HCl163131 63
L-glutamic acid75
L-glutamine292292292 584
L-histidine831 42
L-histidine hydrochloride-H2O4242
L-isoleucine265252 105
L-leucine265252 105
L-lysine hydrochloride36.477373 146
L-methionine7.51515 30
L-phenylalanine16.53232 66
L-proline40
L-serine25 42
L-threonine244848 95
L-tryptophan41010 16
L-tyrosine disodium salt dihydrate265252 104
L-valine23.54646 94
Ascorbic acid50
Biotin10.1
Choline chloride111 4
D-calcium pantothenate111 4
Folic acid111 4
Niacinamide111 4
Pyridoxal hydrochloride111 4
Riboflavin0.10.10.1 0.4
Thiamine hydrochloride111 4
Vitamin B121.36
i-Inositol222 7.2
Calcium chloride (CaCl2, anhyd.)200200200 200
Ferric nitrate (Fe(NO3)3·9H2O) 0.1
Magnesium sulfate (MgSO4, anhyd.)97.6797.6797.67 97.67
Potassium chloride (KCl)400400400 400
Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3)220022002200 3700
Sodium chloride (NaCl)680068006800 6400
Sodium phosphate monobasic (NaH2PO4-H2O)140140140 125
D-Glucose (dextrose)100010001000 1000
Lipoic acid0.2
Phenol red101010 15
Sodium pyruvate110 110

See also

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

References

  1. [1]
    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. [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. [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. [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. [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. [6]
    "11885 - DMEM, low glucose, pyruvate (Formulation)". Thermo Fisher Scientific. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  7. [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. [8]
    "α-MEM" (PDF). ITW reagents.
  9. [9]
    "Alpha MEM with Nucleosides". Stem Cell Tech.
  10. [10]
    "Glasgow's Modified Eagle's Medium 51492C". Sigma-Aldrich. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  11. [11]
    "Basal Medium Eagle (BME)". Thermofisher.
  12. [12]
    "MEM". Thermofisher.
  13. [13]
    "MEM α, no nucleosides". Thermofisher.


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