Cultrex Basement Membrane Extracts and Extracellular Matrix Proteins

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Cultrex Basement Membrane Extracts for 2-D and 3-D Cell Culture

Cultrex Basement Membrane Extracts are solubilized extracellular matrices purified from Englebreth-Holm-Swarm (EHS) tumor. They polymerize at 37^◦ C to form reconstituted basement membranes that are rich in extracellular matrix proteins, such as laminin, collagen IV, entactin, and heparan sulfate proteoglycans. These specialized sheets of extracellular matrix provide structural support for cells and play an important role in establishing tissue organization by influencing cell adhesion, proliferation, migration, and differentiation. Basement membranes are used to promote and maintain a differentiated phenotype in endothelial cells, epithelial cells, smooth muscle cells, glandular cells, and neurons, and are also used for angiogenesis assays, cell invasion assays, neurite outgrowth assays, and in vivo tumorigenicity assays. Multiple different formats of Cultrex Basement Membrane Extract (BME) are available that have been qualified for specific 2-D and 3-D cell culture applications. The features of each of the different types of basement membrane extract are detailed below. Most are available with or without reduced growth factor content and with or without phenol red.

Featured Extracellular Matrix: Cultrex UltiMatrix RGF BME

Cultrex UltiMatrix has been meticulously crafted to cater to the evolving demands of cell culture. With its enhanced consistency and quality, UltiMatrix is rapidly emerging as the hydrogel of choice, offering remarkable efficacy across various applications including organoid cell culture, spheroid formation, induced pluripotent stem cell expansion and differentiation, and more.

Learn More About Cultrex UltiMatrix

For additional help selecting or learning how to use Cultrex ECM products, visit the Cultrex ECM Selection and Use Guide.

Cultrex Basement Membrane Extracts

UltiMatrix BME	BME (With Phenol Red)	RGF BME (With Phenol Red)
BME, Type 2 (With Phenol Red)	RGF BME, Type 2 (With Phenol Red)	RGF BME, Type 2, Select
BME, Type 3 (With Phenol Red)	3-D Culture Matrix RGF BME	RGF BME, Type R1
Stem Cell Qualified RGF BME	ReadyBME, Stem Cell Qualified, RGF

Cultrex ECM Proteins

Vitronectin	Rat Collagen I	Rat Collagen I, Low Viscosity	Rat Collagen I, 3-D Culture Extract
Mouse Laminin I	Laminin I, 3-D Culture Extract	Mouse Collagen IV

Experience the Quality of Cultrex Before You Buy!

Discover your new favorite matrix today! Experience how Cultrex Basement Membrane Extracts can enhance the performance of your cell cultures.

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Customer Success Stories

Brett M. Hall
Asst. Prof. of Pediatrics at the OSU School of Medicine

"After comparing head-to-head Cultrex™ BME and BD Biosciences Matrigel™ BME, the Cultrex equaled or exceeded BD's Matrigel BME product in our 3D Tumor Growth Assay (TGA). Cultrex BME has a higher average BME concentration, and superior lot-to-lot consistency with respect to tumor cell growth in the 3D TGA".

Henry Lopez
CSO of MuriGenics Inc.

"We have used Cultrex in all of our in vitro (endothelial cell tube formation, stem cell differentiation), ex vivo (aortic explant outgrowth, salivary gland organ differentiation), and in vivo assays (subcutaneous angiogenesis, tumor growth promotion) where it has worked well with highly reproducible findings".

Dr. Amar M. Singh
University of Georgia

“Cultrex ReadyBME has worked very well for our lab. H9 hESCs (WA09) were grown on Cultrex ReadyBME and was directly compared side-by-side to our normal basement membrane. So far, I’ve grown the cells for more than 5 passages and haven’t observed any changes in proliferation rate, viability, cell morphology or the increased appearance of differentiated cells.”

Michael K. Dame
Associate Director | Translational Tissue Modeling Institute

“Ultimatrix is unique in its ability to bead up to form a droplet at even low concentrations. We have found that preparing protein concentrations below 8 mg/mL for other commercial ECMs causes 3-dimensional tissues, such as intestinal organoids, to sink to the plastic leading to differentiation and cell death, while UltiMatrix supports healthy normal growth.”

Photograph of Ken Diffenderfer, Director of the Stem Cell Core Facility at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, CA, USA

Ken Diffenderfer
Director of the Stem Cell Core Facility | Salk Institute

“In 2015, we started to evaluate Cultrex BME as an alternative to Matrigel^®. At that time, we pursued some rigorous quality control testing comparing Cultrex to Matrigel. And in that, we tested 10 cell lines for over 20 passages through various functional assays, and found it to be an incredibly stable and consistent product. Since that time, we have been lot testing Cultrex BME for individual lot purchases, as we consume that reagent. And we have tested approximately 20 lots of Cultrex BME in that time. Through those 20 lots, not a single one has failed our internal QC paradigm.”

Photograph of Jens Pushof from the Hans Clevers lab at the Hubrecht Institute in The Netherlands

Jens Puschhof
Hans Clevers Lab | Hubrecht Institute

“Our research is greatly facilitated by Bio-Techne products. The various organoid systems and co-cultures are all performed in or on R&D Systems Cultrex Reduced Growth Factor BME with great results. Even for more exotic organoids, such as snake venom gland organoids, we could achieve breakthroughs with R&D Systems growth factors and BME as well as spatial visualization of toxin transcripts using ACD’s RNAScope.”

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