Rourou, S., Van Der Ark, A., Majoul, S., Trabelsi, K., Van Der Velden, T., & Kallel, H. (2009). A novel animal-component-free medium for rabies virus production in Vero cells grown on Cytodex 1 microcarriers in a stirred bioreactor. Applied microbiology and biotechnology, 85(1), 53.
doi: 10.1007/s00253-009-2064-y.

In this study, vero cells were grown and rabies produced in IPT-AF medium, a property animal-component-free medium described in this work. IPT-AF medium is an in-house-developed animal component-free medium. M199 was used as a basal medium and supplemented with plant hydrolysates, epidermal growth factor, ethanolamine, ferric citrate, and vitamin C. Over eight independent experiments, Vero cell growth in IPT-AF medium, on 2 g/l Cytodex 1 was consistent. An average Cd (cell division number) of 3.3+/-0.4 and a specific growth rate micro of 0.017+/-0.006 h(-1) were achieved. Such performances were comparable to those obtained in serum-containing medium (MEM+10% FCS). The activity of the pooled inactivated rabies virus harvests showed a protective activity that meets WHO requirements.

The formulation of IPT-AF medium is proprietary.