Pre-aliquoted methylcellulose-based medium with recombinant cytokines for rapid hematopoietic colony assays of human cells. 24×3 ml vials.

MethoCult™ Express is intended for use in hematopoietic colony-forming unit (CFU) assays of human cord blood (CB) samples, after a minimum culture period of 7 days. It is recommended for use with red blood cell-depleted CB samples, whole CB samples that have been cryopreserved and thawed, and CB mononuclear cells. MethoCult™ Express is optimized for the growth and enumeration of human hematopoietic progenitor cells after much shorter periods than the 14 to 16 days of standard CFU assays. In MethoCult™ Express, colonies containing at least 20 cells can be counted as early as after 7 days of culture. At this time, most colonies are immature and have not yet differentiated into morphologically distinguishable colony types.

Therefore the colonies counted after 7 days of culture give information about the total frequency of hematopoietic progenitor cells present in the sample without distinction between different progenitor cell types. If MethoCult™ Express cultures are maintained for 14 to 16 days, colonies derived from erythroid progenitor cells (BFU-E), granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells (CFU-GM, CFU-G, and CFU-M), and multi-potential granulocyte, erythroid, macrophage, and megakaryocyte progenitor cells (CFU-GEMM) can be counted.