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NbActiv4® neuron culture medium is an improved version of Neurobasaltm / B27tm. NbActiv4 grows neurons with twice as many synapses and up to 8x higher spike rates than Neurobasal/B27.
NbActiv4 was optimized for maximum spike rates by addition of 3 new components to Neurobasal/B27: creatine, estrogen and cholesterol. Neurobasal and B27 were developed in 1993 by our founder and President, Greg Brewer, (PM:8377226), as a serum-free medium optimized for hippocampal neuron survival after 4 days of growth. Licensed by Invitrogen, it has become the world’s leading serum-free medium for culture of neurons. Now, to improve synaptogenesis and the rate of spontaneous firing of action potentials or spikes, Brewer has further optimized Neurobasal/B27 in a new medium combination, NbActiv4, for maximum spike rates at 3 weeks in culture. Associated with increased spike rates were two-fold increases in immunoreactive synaptophysin and GluR1 (AMPA) at synapses. In addition, immunoreactivity for GABA
increased 1.5-fold and for NMDA-R1 increased 1.8-fold. Neuron survival in NbActiv4 equals that in Neurobasal/B27. Measures of respiration indicated that neurons in NbActiv4 were under less metabolic stress and operated more efficiently under demand loading from glutamate. These results suggest that NbActiv4 will be a convenient and useful serum-free neuron culture medium for electrophysiology, developmental synaptic plasticity, neuronal network analyses, pharmacology, toxicology and drug discovery. Synapses and spiking activety develop earlier, starting at 1 week in NbActiv4 compared to Neurobasal/B27 (Brewer et al. 2008. Neuron network activity scales exponentially with synapse density. J. Neural Eng., in press) Brewer, GJ., Boehler, MD; Jones, TT, Wheeler, BC. 2008. NbActiv4 medium for neurons increases synaptic densities and network spike rates on multielectrode arrays compared to Neurobasal/B27.
Strategies for adoption or switching to NbActiv4® from Neurobasal/B27
NbActiv4 contains all the ingredients in Neurobasal + B27 + Glutamax (all Invitrogen). It should be stored at 4 degrees C for up to 4 months. It should not be frozen. Both media are designed for use at 37 degrees C in a 5% CO2 incubator. Neurons are subject to less oxidative stress if the oxygen is also regulated at 9%. To evaluate NbActiv4 in the context of current experiments, we suggest a side-by-side comparison. For new lines of study, experiments can begin directly with NbActiv4. Beginning cultures in Neurobasal/B27 followed by a switch to NbActiv4 was no better than use of NbActiv4 from the start. One half-medium changes with incubator equilibrated medium should be performed at least once a week, with more frequent changes at cell densities above 300 cells/mm2.
Please contact BrainBits with further questions.
Order NbActiv4®
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Feel free to either email or fax your order form to us by clicking below.
Order Form (for FAX or Email only)
Please note all fresh tissue MUST shipped via Priority Overnight.
All other non-tissue orders are shipped UPS 2nd Day Air unless special requests are given.
All shipping costs can be found on our order form. All orders must be received the day before the specified ship date. Please contact us with any questions.
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