ReviewFrontiers in toxicology2026
Exploring ethical, sustainable and effective foetal bovine serum alternatives for
Review in Frontiers in toxicology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evaluating Alternatives to Fetal Bovine Serum in the Development of Advanced Biomaterial-Based Tumor Models: Overcoming Challenges in Biofabrication.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Transition to fetal calf serum-free culture enhances kidney proximal tubule cell bioenergetics and allows pharmacological applications.Cell and tissue research · 2026Article
- Animal-free matrix alternative for three-dimensionalFrontiers in toxicology · 2026Article
- Use of platelet lysate from estrus heifer forFrontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Foetal bovine serum (FBS) has been widely used as a nutrient-rich supplement in mammalian cell culture for over 6 decades; however, its usage has increasingly raised various concerns and challenges related to quality variations, unethical collection practices, supply-demand imbalance and regulatory challenges. In recent years, alternatives have been investigated to reduce or replace FBS in mammalian cell culture. Starting from a comprehensive analysis of components of FBS and their functions in cell growth, this review compares the main types of FBS alternatives, i.e., human and animal-derived, plant-based alternatives and serum free media. Future perspectives discussed include the development of application-specific FBS alternatives, improvements in the quality and specialized formulation of FBS, optimization of existing alternatives and the establishment of databases and incentive mechanisms to facilitate the transition away from FBS. Lastly, the guidance for selecting appropriate FBS alternatives is also discussed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.