Chapter 10 - Selective Media

Abstract

This chapter focuses on selective media. Selective growth is made possible by the fact that different kinds of cells have different qualitative and quantitative growth requirements. The chapter is explains the development of culture media that selectively favor growth of one particular type of cell while inhibiting growth of other cell types that are likely to be present in the same inoculum. It, therefore, deals primarily with differences in growth requirements among different cell types from the same species. However, the principles that are discussed are for the most part also applicable to differences between normal and transformed cells and to species-based differences. Recent progress in the development of defined media for various types of normal cells is beginning to make feasible the use of differences in responses to regulatory molecules as a possible basis for the development of selective media. Differences in growth requirements can be either qualitative or quantitative. The requirements of fibroblasts for serum mitogens and lipids has been used to obtain selective growth of diverse types of epithelial cells in hormonally defined media that satisfy all the requirements of the epithelial cells but not of the contaminating fibroblasts.