Antibiotics are widely used in cell culture to prevent or control microbial contamination, particularly during the initial stages of primary culture or when working with samples of uncertain sterility. While not a substitute for aseptic technique, antibiotics serve as valuable tools in maintaining culture integrity and ensuring experimental reliability. Here is the list of commonly used cell culture antibiotics.
- Penicillin is commonly added to culture media to prevent bacterial contamination. It is particularly effective against Gram-positive bacteria by inhibiting cell wall synthesis.
- Streptomycin is often used in combination with penicillin. It targets bacterial protein synthesis and is especially effective against Gram-negative organisms.
- Gentamicin is a broad-spectrum aminoglycoside that works well against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. It is frequently used as an alternative to penicillin-streptomycin combinations.
- Kanamycin has a similar mechanism to gentamicin and is used to suppress a wide range of bacterial contaminants or to select genetically engineered cells carrying resistance genes.
- Amphotericin B is employed to prevent fungal contamination. It acts by binding to ergosterol in fungal membranes, making it useful against yeasts and molds, though it can be toxic to mammalian cells at high concentrations.
- Nystatin is another antifungal agent used mainly in tissue or explant cultures. It disrupts fungal membranes and is especially useful for short-term contamination control.
- Tetracycline is occasionally used to inhibit bacterial protein synthesis. In molecular biology, it also serves in tetracycline-inducible gene expression systems.
- Ciprofloxacin is a fluoroquinolone that inhibits bacterial DNA gyrase. It is effective against a broad range of bacteria and is sometimes used in persistent contamination cases.
- Chloramphenicol inhibits bacterial protein synthesis and can be used against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. It is sometimes included in combination therapies for broad-spectrum control.
- Plasmocin is a dual-action antibiotic specifically formulated to treat and prevent mycoplasma contamination in cell cultures. It is effective both prophylactically and curatively.
- BM-Cyclin consists of two antibiotics used in sequence to eliminate mycoplasma. It is a targeted treatment when standard methods fail to clear persistent infections.
- MycoZap is a commercially available cocktail for mycoplasma detection and eradication. It is used when mycoplasma contamination is suspected or confirmed.
- G418 (Geneticin) is not used for contamination control but as a selection agent in mammalian cells engineered to express the neomycin resistance gene.
- Puromycin is used for selecting cells expressing the puromycin resistance gene. It works by prematurely terminating translation, leading to rapid cell death in non-resistant cells.
- Hygromycin B inhibits protein synthesis in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells and is used in genetic selection of transformed cells carrying the appropriate resistance gene.
- Blasticidin S blocks peptide bond formation during translation and is employed for fast, stringent selection of genetically modified mammalian or insect cells.
