MCF-7 cell grow too slow - (Jan/20/2008 )

i have been sub-culturing my MCF-7 cells for quite some time now.. and they dont seem to grow too well
read from somewhere that they grow better is MEM but i'm using DMEM with 10% FBS coz that's the only one i have

it took ages to reach only 40% confluency where i sub-cultured 1 into 5 flask.. what can i do to save my cells?

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I used RPMI-1640 +10% FBS, which worked better than DMEM.

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Hi, I suspect from the description of the cells, that you have some problem with the cells themselves... it could be mycoplasma contamination of inhibition of growth by the phenol red in your medium (assuming that you have phenol red in it, as most people do). MCF-7 grow really quickly normally. I suggest going to the ATCC website and having a look for MCF-7 and the conditions needed. As far as I can remember, growing them in DMEM is fine, but it is best to grow them in MEM without phenol red and supplemented with 10% FCS and 5-10 ug/ml insulin.

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I agree with BOB1. MCF-7 cells grow like wild fire.
If they are growing slowly they are "messed up".
Is it possible you are using BCS and not FBS?

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yea i'm using FBS and today i took another look at my cells again, they look better and i tried sub-culturing it into 2 flasks, hoping they will grow well.. and what do u mean by messed up?

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Messed up could mean several things.
#1 They are not MCF-7 at all but are miss-labeled or more likely,
#2 MCF-7 are notoriously unstable for long periods in cell culture.
In fact there are several variants floating around. The genome of these cells is somewhat unstable and
they can spontaneous change due to chromosomal rearrangements, mutations etc. Therefore your cells may have drifted from the normal MCF-7.

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