Mouse embryonic fibroblasts

Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts (MEFs) are used in the culturing of mouse Embryonic Stem (ES) cells. They provide both a substrate for the ES cells to grow on and secrete many factors necessary for ES cells to maintain pluripotency. Feeders are MEFs that have been mitotically inactivated using mitomycin-C.

All mouse feeder cells originate from embryos, however there are important differences between types of feeder cells that relate to drug resistance. Frequently researchers engineering ES cells need to perform various drug selections on their cultures. If the feeder cells were not resistant to the drug being used to select the engineered ES cells, they would die. Consequently researchers have engineered mice to carry the various drug resistance markers used in ES cell culture selection schemes. The process of engineering mice with various drug resistances, extracting the MEFs, expanding them to large numbers and mitotically inactivating them is time consuming and expensive.

Open Biosystems is now offering a unique quad-resistant DR4 feeder cell line. What makes these DR4 feeders so desirable is that they are acquired from mice that have been engineered to be resistant to hygromycin, puromycin, 6-thioguanine, and neomycin. This makes them extremely versatile in that one can use this cell line when using any of the four drug selections. In addition the DR4 feeders allow the use of more than one drug selection simultaneously, an option not available in other commercially available feeder cells that possess single resistance markers.

In addition two other feeder cell lines are available. NT MEF's are neomycin and 6-TG resistant and NH MEF’s are Neomycin and HAT resistant.

Purchasing Information
Catalog No.	Description	Literature
MES3948	Mouse ES Cell DR4-MEF-large (3 vials)
MES3949	Mouse ES Cell NT-MEF- Neo+/Hprt- Large
MES3950	Mouse ES Cell NH-MEF- Neo+/Hprt+ Large