Horse Serum And Its Advantages in Cell Culture
An essential technique in biological research, Cell Culture offers the perfect setting for studying cellular behavior during drug testing or for the understanding of disease mechanisms. As everyone knows, the most often utilized serum in cell culture procedures is fetal bovine serum. Other animal serums, such as Horse Serum, have unique benefits, though, that are sometimes ignored. In this blog, we will dive deep to understand the role of Horse Serum in Cell Culture.
Understanding What is Horse Serum
A vital and biologically rich substance, horse serum is extracted through vein puncture from the clotted whole blood of horses. Growth factors, proteins, lipids, and hormones are just a few of the many bioactive compounds found in this serum that are necessary to promote cell functioning in research.
Blood is first drawn from healthy horses and allowed to clot spontaneously as part of the collecting process. After that, the serum is extracted from the clots for additional procedures like sterilization and purification to ensure that it is contaminant-free and appropriate for cell culture. Horse serum is a reliable supply of nutrients that are necessary for cell division, proliferation, and maintenance because of this thorough collecting method. Horse serum is an essential serum in biological research since it works with a variety of cell types. Because it duplicates the extracellular environment, it is the ideal serum for a variety of cell culture procedures.
Horse Serum Advantages Over FBS
In certain cell culture procedures, horse serum might be an excellent alternative to FBS. These two serums’ compositions differ slightly from one another. Horse serum has a higher quantity of immunoglobulins than FBS, although it has lower concentrations of growth factors. In a similar vein, it has about twice as much protein as FBS but less of a few trace metals that are critical for cell growth. This indicates that horse serum can be a useful alternative to FBS with a few adjustments. Horse serum has the following benefits over FBS:
⦁ More Economical: Compared to FBS, horse serum is less expensive, which makes it a fantastic choice for labs without sacrificing quality.
⦁ More Ethical: Horse serum is a more moral alternative to FBS because it is not obtained by the slaughter of fetal animals.
⦁ Reduces the chance of Bovine Virus Contamination: Horse serum lowers the chance of bovine virus contamination, making it a safer option for research where the presence of bovine pathogen poses a biosafety issue or is fatal to the results.
⦁ Appropriate for Specialized Experiments: Horse serum is an excellent option for veterinary research because it is specifically designed to sustain particular cell types, such as those derived from equine animals.
Conclusion
A crucial biological component for many cell culture procedures is horse serum. Horse serum is an excellent substitute for FBS because of its advantages, such as being more economical and ethical. For the benefit of the biological business, the “horse serum vs. FBS” debate can be resolved with a few modifications.
Get in touch with PurMa Biologics LLC to learn more.
