BrainPhys™ Neuronal Culture Media

For an Active Neuronal Culture

Do your neurons fire together? Are your neurons experiencing culture conditions that promote, rather than inhibit, neuronal activity and function?

Your neuronal cultures should mimic the physiological conditions in the brain as closely as possible, whether you are measuring complex interactions of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived neurons or studying rodent neuronal biology in a controlled environment.

Cells that fire together wire together

When an axon of cell A is near enough to excite a cell B and repeatedly or persistently takes part in firing it, some growth process or metabolic change takes place in one or both cells such that A's efficiency, as one of the cells firing B, is increased.

Hebb, D.O. (1949). The Organization of Behavior. New York: Wiley & Sons.

BrainPhys™: A New Way to Culture Neurons

BrainPhys™ Neuronal Medium is based on the formulation published by Cedric Bardy and Fred H. Gage (C Bardy et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2015) and is optimized to take your neuronal culture system one step closer to the brain environment.

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Compare BrainPhys™ Media for Neuronal Culture

BrainPhys™ Imaging Optimized Medium

Applications:

Live fluorescent imaging (calcium imaging and optogenetics) and neuronal culture.

Description:

Serum-free neurophysiological basal medium for improved neuronal live imaging and function. In addition to the removal of phenol red, the formulation has been modified to reduce background fluorescence and increase stability upon repeated exposure to light.

BrainPhys™ Neuronal Medium

Applications:

Culture of primary neurons, differentiation and maturation of hPSC-derived neurons, microelectrode array-based recording of neuronal activity, and transdifferentiation of somatic cells to neurons.

Description:

Serum-free neurophysiological basal medium for improved neuronal function. Various BrainPhys™ kits are available for primary or hPSC-derived neurons.

BrainPhys™ Without Phenol Red

Applications:

Culture of primary neurons, differentiation and maturation of hPSC-derived neurons, microelectrode array-based recording of neuronal activity, and transdifferentiation of somatic cells to neurons.

Description:

Serum-free neurophysiological basal medium for improved neuronal function without the addition of phenol red.
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Selected Publications Using BrainPhys™

They Published with BrainPhys™

Meet the scientists behind the papers. We ask neuroscientists about their research, what motivates them, and why they published with BrainPhys™.

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Why Was BrainPhys™ Created?

Why Is It Important to Culture Active Neurons?

Dr. Cedric Bardy discusses why and how he created a novel neuronal basal medium to support neuronal growth under brain-like physiological conditions.

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Our goal was to develop a culture condition that would support both healthy neuronal circuits and let us monitor the functional properties of mature neurons, without having to switch to different media. Specifically, we reasoned that such cell media should allow for optimal physiological neuronal activity. After sharing our work with our colleagues, we wanted to make this neuronal medium easily available to the scientific community.

Dr. Bardy on why he created BrainPhys™

Realizing the shortcomings of traditional culture media, Cedric Bardy, in the laboratory of Fred H. Gage, set out to identify which properties could be altered to better support in vitro neuronal activity. They found many crucial neurophysiological properties to be impaired, such as action potential generation and synaptic activity. Their solution was the invention of a new tissue culture medium, BrainPhys™, published in 2015 (C Bardy et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2015). In BrainPhys™, cultures experience brain-like physiological conditions and have a higher proportion of synaptically active neurons. We developed BrainPhys™ Neuronal Medium based on this formulation, applying more than 20 years of experience in media manufacturing, together with industry-leading raw material screening and performance testing programs, to create a product with unfailing performance and minimal lot-to-lot variability.


Antibody Finder Tool

Use our Antibody Finder Tool to ensure consistent downstream cell analysis. Find antibodies that are verified to work with BrainPhys™ products in specific applications.

Find the Right Antibody for Your Applications

Don't waste valuable research time finding the appropriate antibody for your cell analysis. Use our Antibody Finder Tool to select high-quality primary and secondary antibodies verified to work with BrainPhys™ products in specific applications.

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Scientific Resources

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