Ham's F-10 Nutrient Mix, HEPES (Gibco™)

Ham's F-10 Nutrient Mixture (F-10) was designed for serum-free growth of Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. F-10 has since been used for serum-free growth of CHO cultures as well as serum-supplemented growth of other mammalian cells, including COS-7, primary rat astrocytes, and rat prostate epithelial cells.

The complete formulation is available.

Compared to other basal media, F-10 contains a wider variety of components, including zinc, hypoxanthine, and thymidine. Serum-free growth of CHO cells in F-10 has led to a variety of improved formulations, such as Ham's F-12 Nutrient Mixture (F-12).

Using Ham's F-10 Nutrient Mixture
Gibco™ F-10 contains no proteins or growth factors. Therefore, F-10 requires supplementation, commonly with 10% Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS). F-10 uses a sodium bicarbonate buffer system (1.2 g/L) and therefore requires a 5-10% CO₂ environment to maintain physiological pH.