DMEM and RPMI - (Sep/02/2008 )

Hello, I am currently working with MCF-7 cells. So far, I have used DMEM with HEPES buffer to culture my cells and they don't seem to be doing well (unable to settle down and adhere). A cell viability test however, showed that the cells were still alive. I am currently thinking of switching to using RPMI as the media as i had read that RPMI are more effective with MCF-7 cells. Would anyone happen to know what the differences are between DMEM and RPMI and how they would generally have different effects on my cells?

On invitrogens website you can find the composition of RPMI and DMEM, but it might be hard to tell which exact component of either one would benefit growth of your specific cell line. What's the most common used one in literature for these cells?

Have you compared your cells with different batches of serum and are you sure they are mycoplasma free?

Are you using insulin in your cultures? Insulin helps MCF7 adhere. Also, make sure that you passage them before confluency, consistently passaging them at/after confluency will lower the adhesion/survival rate.

Take a look here, perhaps it helps
ATCC Website for MCF-7