ReviewHeliyon2021
Alternative to FBS in animal cell culture - An overview and future perspective.
Review in Heliyon, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 118 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
118 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 212 citations in OpenAlex.
- Towards the standardization of human platelet lysate production and its comparison to fetal bovine serum for human hematopoietic cell culture: a scoping review.Frontiers in toxicology · 2025Pooled it
- Systemic Alterations of Cancer Cells and Their Boost by Polyploidization: Unicellular Attractor (UCA) Model.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Platelet-Rich Plasma as an Alternative to Xenogeneic Sera in Cell-Based Therapies: A Need for Standardization.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Pooled it
- Review of culture media and serum substitutes containing phytoecdysteroids for application in cultured meat technology.Food science of animal resources · 2026Review
- Article
- Comparative lipidomic profiling of African trypanosomes reveals metabolic distinctions impacting pan-species drug development.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Biochemical and functional benchmarking of plant protein hydrolysates in serum-reduced adherent CHO-K1 cell culture.Biotechnology reports (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2026Article
- Evaluating Alternatives to Fetal Bovine Serum in the Development of Advanced Biomaterial-Based Tumor Models: Overcoming Challenges in Biofabrication.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Cell line identity rather than medium composition determines transcriptomic profiles of HepaRG and HuH7 cells cultured in chemically defined or serum-based media: comparison with primary human hepatocytes.Archives of toxicology · 2026Article
- Towards Cost-Effective and Sustainable Media Formulations for Terrestrial and Aquatic Cellular Agriculture.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Food-grade utilization of bovine slaughterhouse by-products for developing cost-effective media supplements in cultivated meat applications.Food science of animal resources · 2026Review
- Toward clinically relevant automated corneal biomanufacturing with human-derived FBS alternatives.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Efficient multi-lineage cardiovascular differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells in animal serum-free conditions.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- From dairy by-product to cell feed: milk whey for serum-free media and scaffold development in cell-based food production.NPJ science of food · 2026Review
- Selective antitumor and apoptosis‑inducing effects of the Src inhibitor PP1 in human tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells.International journal of oncology · 2026Article
- Cultured Meat and Its Acceptability in Muslim Societies: A Narrative Perspective on Halal Perspectives and Regulatory Challenges.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Alternatives for fetal bovine serum (FBS) and sustainability of milk derivatives in cell culture.Biological research · 2026Review
- Refined production of egg-derived media additives enhances proliferation and differentiation of skeletal muscle satellite cell culture.Food science of animal resources · 2026Article
- Cytotoxicity Potency of Cannabinoids Is by Serum Supplementation: Implications for In Vitro Cancer Studies.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Article
- The road to restore male fertility using in vitro-derived germ cells.Human reproduction update · 2026Review
58 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is a widely used growth supplement in the in vitro culturing of animal and human cells, tissues and organs, notably due to the occurrence of abundant micro- and macronutrients, along with growth factors. Over the years, increasing demand, high price, batch-to-batch variability in quality and composition, increasing ethical concerns lead to the search for an alternative to FBS. Several approaches have been suggested and employed in the past, but none is implemented as widely as FBS, and each supplement has its own disadvantages. In this review, we described the importance of FBS in cell culture, discussed the issues associated with FBS use and presented the efforts made in the recent past to reduce or replace FBS. The potential of four different alternative sources to FBS, namely, bovine ocular fluid, sericin protein, human platelet lysate and earthworm heat inactivated coelomic fluid was evaluated. In the end, we present the conceptual perspective using the Human Platelet Lysate (HPL) and earthworm Heat Inactivated Coelomic Fluid (HI-CF) combination to alternate FBS and its context in scientific and economic impacts.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.