Serum Starvation - (Aug/08/2007 )

Hi,

I was wondering what would be the effect of reduced serum on the growth of cells, especially endothelial cells. Will their proliferation rate be hindered.

In our lab we use reduced serum media to grow cancer cell lines and the tumer cells grow fine.

I am not sure how serum deprivation will affect endothelial cells.

Thanks,

Pooja

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Hi,

If i'm not mistaken VEGF (mitogen) have something to do with this.VEGF was found to be activated in serum depleted media in some cancer cells.It activates the ERK MAPK which promotes cell growth and reduce the activation of stress kinases such as SAPK/JNK which prevent the apoptosis event. perhaps there are other explaination as well.

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Cell lines are normally adapted to reduced serum medium over time to avoid shocking them. Once they have made this gradual transition to serum reduced media they normally can be maintained in it for a long time, though proliferation usually is reduced when compared to growth in media with serum.

I do not know if you are using an endothelial cell line or freshly isolated endothelial cells. If freshly isolated it may just be a matter of trying both in parallel and observing any differences.

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