Balanced Salts with Phenol red, w/o Calcium and Sodium bicarbonate

With: Phenol red Without: Calcium and Sodium bicarbonate Hank's balanced salt mixture was developed by Hanks and Wallace (1949) for use with cells maintained in less CO2 environment or CO2 free environment. It is used for washing cells and diluting reagents. Many classical cell culture media formulations use Hanks's salts with 0.35gms per litre of sodium bicarbonate to maintain osmotic balance and pH within the physiological range. This system is designed for use in a sealed or gas-tight system and is not suitable for dishes and microplates. All media used in tissue culture have a basis of a synthetic mixture of inorganic salts known as a physiological or balanced salt solution (BSS). All the physiological salt solutions have been derived from the salt solution originally described by Sydney Ringer (1885). The first balanced salt solution to be developed specifically for supporting the metabolism of mammalian cells was Tyrode's solution. Since then many modifications have been done to obtain better buffering salt solutions and to prevent calcium precipitation. The function of a salt solution is: To maintain the medium within physiological pH range. To maintain intracellular and extra cellular osmotic balance. Modified with a carbohydrate, such as glucose serves as an energy source for cell metabolism.