Question

The effect of BSA on the attachment of NIH-3T3 to cell culture plates. BSA should have interfered with cell attachment.

Suggest a mechanism that might account for this.

Answer 1

BSA stands for Bovine serum albumin. It is a nutrient that is widely in usage in the field of cell culture and microbial assays. It has recently gained popularity over Human serum albumin because of its cost-effectivity and ease of manufacturing. As the name suggests, albumin is a very important constituent of BSA. Albumin is a major protein in the serum, it makes about 60% of the serum. NIH 3TC is a cell line that has been into use profoundly for DNA transfection and transformation related studies. This question throws light on the effect of BSA on the attachment of NIH 3T3 to cell culture plates. BSA has cell adhesion properties because of the presence of albumin. Albumin undergoes non-specific adsorption to the cell surface, and in this way, it protects the cell. BSA also has antioxidant properties. During cell culture, oxidative stress is created by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and BSA helps the cells in this stage. BSA also provides protection to the cells against lipid peroxidation. In all such ways, BSA interferes with the cell attachment in cell culture techniques.