REVIEW article
Front. Toxicol.
Sec. In Vitro Toxicology
Exploring Ethical, Sustainable and Effective Foetal Bovine Serum Alternatives for In Vitro Mammalian Cell Culture
1. Division of Evolution, Infection and Genomics, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
2. Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
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Abstract
Foetal bovine serum (FBS) has been widely used as a nutrient-rich supplement in mammalian cell culture for over six 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.
Summary
Keywords
Cell culture2, Foetal bovine serum (FBS)1, Human-derived alternatives3, plant-based alternatives4, Regulatory challenges6, Serum-free media5
Received
28 December 2025
Accepted
05 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Meng and Day. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Philip J.R. Day
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.