Human cells in serum-free medium.

Cell culture media in which the usual serum supplement required for growth has been replaced with specific combinations of hormones, nutrients and purified serum proteins have been developed which allow the growth of a number of human cell types. These media afford particular advantages in terms of simplicity of experimental design for some kinds of experiments. Also, the media may be designed to be selective with regard to cell type, so that fibroblastic overgrowth of primary cultures of epithelial cells can be avoided. Often the proliferative and differentiative responses of cells in vivo are better preserved in vitro in the serum-free media, resulting in new systems in which to study cell differentiation and responses of cells to environmental factors such as hormones.