Human Serum for Cell Culture

Human AB Serum Products

Human adult AB serum is used for culturing human cell lines, including human stem cell lines. We offer both AB off-the-clot and AB plasma products. Human AB serum is prepared from whole blood that is allowed to clot naturally, called OTC or Off-The-Clot serum. Human serum from clotted whole blood is used most frequently however, as it contains more growth factors for cell growth.

AB human serum can also be plasma-derived or prepared from whole blood that is not allowed to coagulate. Once the plasma is separated from whole blood, it is treated with calcium to activate the clotting cascade and centrifuged to extract the serum. This preparation is used when testing sera for growth factors.

We offer heat inactivated human AB serum both from plasma and clotted whole blood. Adult serum contains complement, a component in sera that can be harmful to some cells or have deleterious effects in downstream immunoassays. Heat inactivation of serum is inactivates complement, and this serum is mainly used when culturing hematopoietic cells or when performing immunological assays, such as mixed-lymphocyte reactions or neutralization assays.

Human Serum from Platelet Poor Plasma

Human serum from platelet poor plasma (PPP) is a media supplement that is often used in studies that look at the effects that platelet lysates have on the cellular growth, such as on human skin fibroblasts and articular chondrocytes growth. PPP human sera is also used when differentiating human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPS) to hiPS-brain microvascular endothelial cells or in platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) purification assays.

Applications for Human Serum

Human serum from blood type AB donors lacks antibodies specific for both A and B blood-type antigens, making it suitable for transplantation and cell therapy. Other biotechnical and biopharmaceutical applications include tissue engineering, the expansion of mesenchymal stem cells from adipose tissue, or of mesenchymal stromal cells from human bone marrow. In addition, AB serum is essential for expanding peripheral blood-derived NK cells, and for enhancing pre-transplant human islet culture.