Cultrex®
Basement Membrane Extract (BME) is a soluble form of basement membrane
purified from Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm (EHS) tumor. The extract gels at
37°C to form a reconstituted basement membrane. The major components of
BME include laminin, collagen IV, entactin, and heparin sulfate
proteoglycan. BME can be used in a multiple applications, under a
variety of cell culture conditions, for maintaining growth or promoting
differentiation of primary endothelial, epithelial, smooth muscle and
stem cells. BME can also be utilized in cell attachment, neurite
outgrowth, angiogenesis, in vitro cell invasion and in vivo
tumorigenicity assays.
Recently we have developed two additional
formulations of Cultrex® BME known as Cultrex® BME Type 2 and Cultrex®
BME Type 3. Cultrex® BME Type 2 provides a proprietary formulation that
is higher in tensile strength when compared to our original BME, while
Cultrex® BME Type 3 is physiologically aligned with the in vivo solid
tumors environment and is recommended for xenografts and other in vivo
applications.
There are many applications for Cultrex® BME, which
require different thicknesses and concentrations. In general, BME at a
protein concentration ≥ 10 mg/ml is used for differentiation studies of
primary cells. For applications such as endothelial cell formation of
capillary-like structures (Tube Formation Assay), the differentiation of
rat aorta tissue into capillary-like structures (Aortic Ring Assay),
epithelial organoid formation, or tumor organoid formation, a thick gel
is needed. Some applications, such as propagation of primary cells,
require a thin layer coating and not a thick gel; therefore, the thin
layer method should be used.