Development of an animal-derived component-free medium for Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells using response surface methodology.

OBJECTIVES: To develop an animal-derived component-free medium for Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) growth and green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression. RESULTS: OSF9-ADCFM contained optimum concentrations of CDLC, YE and ST at 0.5% (v/v), 11.0 g/L, and 3.0 g/L, respectively. A mean viable cell concentration of 1.71 ± 0.14 × 105 cells/mL was obtained from 5 passages (P1-P5). The use of both peptones after 10 kDa ultrafiltration had a significant effect on Sf9 cell growth. Grace's insect medium with 10% FBS gave higher un-infected cell number than SF-900II and OSF9-ADCFM for 4.29 and 5.38 times, respectively. The average cell number of un-infected cells and GFP-fluorescent cells of SF-900II were higher than OSF9-ADCFM 1.25 and 7 times, respectively. CONCLUSION: In-house OSF9-ADCFM could support growth and GFP expression in Sf9 less than commercial SF-900II. However, it could lower the production cost at least 50% comparing to commercial SF-900II. The development of in- house OSF9-ADCFM would be continued to increase both cell numbers and protein expression in the next step.