Performance and Costs of Bovine Sera
Used in Epithelial Cell Cultures

Four bovine sera of American, South American and European origin were tested for their effect on the growth of two epithelial cell cultures (Caco-2 and Calu-3). Transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) and apparent permeability of a marker substance ( 14 C-mannitol) were measured in order to obtain information on the development and integrity of the cell monolayers. Our results showed no difference in performance of sera of American and European origin in both cell lines.
The use of in vitro cell culture techniques in pharmaceutical sciences, biotechnology and bioanalytics has made huge advances in the past decade and the development still continues. This is due to the predictive value of using cell lines is the reduction of animal experiments, ease of manipulation, possibility of high-throughput screening (HTS) and the investigation of molecular mechanisms of drug transport, absorption and metabolism under well-defined experimental conditions. Setting up such systems requires personnel skilled in cell culturing and proper facilities such as incubators, sterile flow cabinets and ventilation systems.