RHB-A

RHB-A: neural stem cell culture and differentiation medium

We are delighted to announce an exciting new partnership between TCS Biosciences and Takara Bio, bringing the renowned Cellartis® portfolio directly to researchers across the United Kingdom.

This collaboration strengthens our growing life science offering and provides UK scientists with easier access to Takara Bio's trusted stem cell technologies, supported by the dedicated service and technical expertise you expect from TCS Biosciences.

RHB-A is a fully defined, serum-free cell culture medium optimized for the derivation, maintenance, expansion, and differentiation of human and mouse neural stem (NS) cells. RHB-A is specifically formulated for culturing pure populations of adherent human and mouse NS cells. This medium ensures the long-term stability of NS cell differentiation capacity (Sun et al. 2008) and can be used to support differentiation of human and mouse NS cells into functional neurons (Sun et al. 2008; Conti et al. 2005; Hansen et al. 2010) and of mouse ES cells into neural precursors (Ying et al. 2003; Diogo, Henrique, and Cabral 2008; Abranches et al. 2009). Critically, RHB-A medium is more efficient at neural differentiation than conventional N2- and B27-based methods. RHB-A medium can be used to support organotypic slice culture of central nervous system tissues such as brain and spinal cord, and supports the culture of glioblastoma stem cells used in cancer research.

NOTE: RHB-A medium requires supplementation with Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) and Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF-2) for most applications (not supplied).

RHB-Basal medium does not contain any growth factors or neuronal supplements. Therefore, this medium can be tailored to the specific requirements of your cell type by the addition of supplements.

RHB-A, supplemented with Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) and Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 (FGF-2), enables the maintenance and continual expansion of symmetrically-dividing NS cells in defined, serum-free adherent culture. In growth factor supplemented RHB-A, NS cells have been demonstrated to retain their neurogenic capacity for over 100 generations, with full maintenance of diploid karyotype. RHB-A in the presence of EGF and FGF-2 also supports the derivation of clonogenic NS cell lines. Culture of adherent NS cells in RHB-A with sequential growth factor withdrawal leads to differentiation into functional neurons. RHB-A supplemented with EGF and FGF-2 has recently been used for the propagation of glioblastoma stem cell lines.