Final answer:
Serum tube additives include amino acids, antibiotics, vitamins, preservatives, and various other organic molecules. These additives support the serum's role in cell culture by maintaining pH, providing nutrients, and ensuring osmotic balance.
Step-by-step explanation:
Additives in serum tubes are crucial as they enhance the serum's utility in various applications, including culture media for animal cell culture. Serum is a complex substance forming plasma without coagulation factors, and it needs the right additives to maintain cell viability and integrity during experiments and storage. Common additives include amino acids, antibiotics such as penicillin and streptomycin, vitamins like ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and tocopherols (Vitamin E), preservatives like sodium benzoate and BHT, and organic molecules such as glucose and albumin. These components ensure the serum maintains pH, osmotic balance, and provides necessary nutrients and growth factors to support cell cultures.
Furthermore, technological advancements have revealed that serum can contain additional organic molecules like 23 different amino acids. These discoveries can be instrumental in tailoring serum-based media to suit specific cell culture requirements, assisting researchers in optimizing conditions for cell growth and maintenance.