Abstract
Interactions between light and various cells in cultures, such as bacteria or mammalian cells, are widely applied for optical sensors and optofluidic systems. These microorganisms need to be kept in proper aqueous media, referred to as buffers or cell culture media, that are required, respectively, for stable storage or delivering biochemical nutrients for their growth. When experiments or numerical analyses on optical devices are performed, the properties of these media are usually considered to be similar to those of pure water, with negligible influence of biochemical compounds on the medium’s optical properties. In this work, we investigated the transmission, material dispersion, and scattering properties of selected and widely used buffers and cell culture media. We show that the optical properties of these media may significantly vary from those of water. Well-defined properties of buffers and cell culture media are essential for proper design of various optical sensing or future optofluidic systems dealing with biological structures.
Highlights
Conducting research on microorganisms and cell cultures requires aqueous media that support their life functions
We verified to what extent the optical properties of the liquids correspond to those of water, which are often assumed to be equivalent in numerical modeling
The transmission properties of buffers are comparable to thoseFigure of water, but cell culture media showafter a significant reduction ofstorage transmission spectral(b)
Summary
Conducting research on microorganisms and cell cultures requires aqueous media that support their life functions. These media are often called buffers or cell culture media (CCM) when storage and growth are considered, respectively. While buffers are typically multicompound electrolytes, CCM are enriched with nutrients, growth factors, hormones, and other biologically active substances required for in vitro growth, storage, or propagation of living cells. The ingredients of CCM have to mimic the composition of the nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and growth stimuli present in the natural environment of the microorganisms and tissue or the extracellular fluid in the case of cell cultures [1,2,3].
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