ELISA Research
I want to measure the content of testosterone in the supernatant of cell culture. Does the culture medium containing phenol red affect the detection of testosterone?
Source: Elabscience®Published: Mar 08,2024
The medium containing phenol red may have an effect on the detection of testosterone. Phenol red is used in the medium as an indicator of PH: red when neutral, yellow when acidic, and purple when alkaline. Studies have shown that phenol red can mimic the effects of sterol hormones (especially estrogen). To avoid sterol reactions, cultured cells, especially mammalian cells, are cultured without phenol red.
Introduce a tip: when the medium is packaged, leave a tube with phenol red and put it in the incubator to balance (you can see the change in PH value, and you can see whether the medium is polluted). Put in the incubator before culture for balanced use (can avoid the use of phenol red during culture).