Prevention of fungal contamination - (Oct/26/2009 )

Dear Forum,

I culture C6 glioma cell line, and I want to treat my cell with some compounds. Recently, I found fungal contamination on my DMEM, i have throwed it and make a new one. Is it oke to add antimycotic such as amphotericin B into my DMEM to prevent fungal contamination?

Thanks you for any suggestion

Viasa

I have no experience in cell culture, BUT if you add ampho B this will inhibit only a small range of fungi. Many fungi (e.g. a wide range of airborne fungi which are probably responsible for you contamination) are tolerant or resistent against ampho B. I would suggest to work aseptically, this should do the trick so no risk with getting strange results bec. of the fungicide.

It is never a good idea to add antibiotics of any sort to your cultures, including antibacterials such as pen/strep. These can suppress contaminations which affect your cells in subtle ways resulting in odd and often irreproducible results. Sterile technique should be enough to keep your cultures clean.

TL,DR: DON"T ADD ANTIBIOTICS.

ya i second bob.. i have always seen working aseptically the better alternative to adding anti fungal or anti viral agents to your culture medium!!!

Thank you very much for all of your suggestion, the key is aseptic work.


Regards

Viasa