CELLstart humanized substrate for stem cell culture












Cell Culture

CELLstart™ humanized substrate for stem cell culture

CELLstart™—the first xeno-free substrate for attachment and expansion of human embryonic, mesenchymal, and neural stem cells:

  • Fully-defined
  • Better lot-to-lot consistency
  • Produced under cGMP

First xeno-free stem cell culture substrate

  • Containing components only of human origin, CELLstart™ substrate maintains:

    • Pluripotency and differentiation capability of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in STEMPRO® hESC SFM (serum- and feeder-free medium)
    • Multipotency and tri-lineage mesoderm differentiation potential of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in STEMPRO® MSC SFM (serum-free medium)
    • Multipotency of human neural stem cells (hNSCs) in serum-free medium
    • Consistent performance lot to lot and produced under cGMP
    • Little or no adaptation from feeders or feeder-free substrates of animal origin

Attachment and growth of hESCs

  • hESC lines (BG01V, H9 and RCM1) grown on CELLstart™ in serum- and feeder-free hESC medium exhibit normal morphology (Figure 1), retain pluripotency, and maintain pluripotent differentiation capabilities to all three germ layers.

Figure 1.  hESCs grown on CELLstart™-coated dishes in STEMPRO® hESC SFM exhibit normal morphology.

A. Phase contrast image (4X) of BG01V cells (passage 13).
B. Phase contrast image (10X) of H9 cells (passage 60). Data provided by E. Seftor, Children’s Memorial Research Center, Chicago, IL.
C. Phase contrast image (10X) of RCM1 cells (passage 28). Data provided by B. Tye, Roslin Cells Ltd.

Attachment and growth of hMSCs

  • hMSCs grown on CELLstart™ in STEMPRO® MSC SFM exhibit superior growth compared to expansion in classical medium (DMEM + 10% MSC-Qualified FBS) and maintain tri-lineage mesoderm differentiation potential beyond passage 5 (Figure 2).

Figure 2.  hMSCs grown on CELLstart-coated dishes in STEMPRO® MSC SFM retain tri-lineage differentiation potential through long-term passaging.

hMSCs (passage 5 ) were seeded into adipogenic, chondrogenic, or osteogenic differentiation medium for 14 days, revealing adiopocytes (oil red O lipid stain), chondrocytes (alcian blue glycosaminoglycan stain) and osteoblasts (alkaline phosphatase cell surface glycoprotein stain)

Attachment and growth of hNSCs

  • hNSCs grown on CELLstart in serum-free medium exhibit normal morphology while maintaining multipotency of these cells (Figure 3).

Figure 3. hNSCs grown on CELLstart-coated dishes in serum-free medium exhibit normal morphology and express hNSC markers

A. Phase contrast image (10x) of hNSCs (passage 27).
B. Immunofluorescence analysis of hNSC (passage 23) shows nestin expression and C. Sox2 expression.