What are the negative effects of HEPES on cells - if any - (Dec/10/2007 )
Dear colleagues
We recently switched medium from HEPES containing medium to a HEPES-free medium. Since then our cell lines have started to grow slower and we have a larger amount of dead cells in our cultures..
We have calibrated the CO2 level in our incubator, which removed the problem with the dead cell, but cells are still growing slower, even though we started with new stocks from the freezer. When we are using the old medium, cells grow as usual.
We would like to go back to the old medium and therefore I’m looking into if HEPES has any negative effects on human cells. So far the only thing I have found is that HEPES should be protected from light to avoid toxic effects.
Does anyone have any input or knowledge of relevant publications on the subject.
Thanks
Kirsten
Kirsten Fogd
Aarhus University Hospital
Denmark
We recently switched medium from HEPES containing medium to a HEPES-free medium. Since then our cell lines have started to grow slower and we have a larger amount of dead cells in our cultures..
We have calibrated the CO2 level in our incubator, which removed the problem with the dead cell, but cells are still growing slower, even though we started with new stocks from the freezer. When we are using the old medium, cells grow as usual.
We would like to go back to the old medium and therefore I’m looking into if HEPES has any negative effects on human cells. So far the only thing I have found is that HEPES should be protected from light to avoid toxic effects.
Does anyone have any input or knowledge of relevant publications on the subject.
Thanks
Kirsten
Kirsten Fogd
Aarhus University Hospital
Denmark
Hi Kirsten,
HEPES has superior buffering capacity (especially in the pH range 7.2 - 7.4) and it can be toxic to some cell types at higher concentrations. I use HEPES in my reduce serum or serum free cultures and I don't see any toxic effects. It has been described as one of the best all-purpose buffers available for biological research. Try to do more google search maybe?
Cheers,
anna