In Vitro Technologies :: Bio-techne: Cultrex

Organoid and 3D cell culture are emerging as pivotal systems for understanding human organ development, modelling disease, screening for drug efficacy or toxicity, and investigating personalised medicine. The reagents and protocols needed to culture these advanced multi-cellular in vitro tissues vary by organ and species, as well as whether they are being generated from tissue-specific adult stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

This page serves as a reagent and technical resource from R&D Systems to help you build robust and consistent organoid cultures. Access protocols, exclusive webinars, organoid recipes, and discover new products relevant to your work in organoid research.

R&D Systems products for physiologic cell culture recreate tissue microenvironments to elicit in vivo structure and function for cells in vitro. These tools for 2-D and 3-D cell culture are designed, developed, produced, qualified, and supported by R&D Systems’ Cultrex™ laboratory. This includes several unique Basement Membrane Extract (BME) matrices containing different compositions of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins qualified for 3-D, stem cell, spheroid, and organoid cultures.

Biotechne has been extensively involved in formulating a basement membrane extract for 3D cell culture.

NEW Cultrex UltiMatrix RGF BME is specially formulated with higher extracellular protein content, consistency, and clarity for optimal organoid, spheroid, and pluripotent stem cell culture.

Watch below how Cultrex UltiMatrix RGF BME is used to grow Human Intestinal Organoids (MUC2 (magenta) Expression in Human Intestinal Organoids)

KEY BENEFITS
• Consistent lot-to-lot performance
• Qualified for organoid and pluripotent stem cell culture
• Tensile strength optimized for 3D applications
• Verified for dome formation

Claim your introductory pricing for Cultrex UltiMatrix by filling in the form

Cultrex® Basement Membrane Extracts (BME) Product Features

Cultrex BMEs are a soluble form of basement membrane purified from Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm (EHS) tumor. These extracts provide a natural extracellular matrix hydrogel that polymerizes at 37 °C to form a reconstituted basement membrane that is used to promote and maintain a differentiated phenotype of cell cultures such as epithelial cells, endothelial cells, glandular cells, neurons, and smooth muscle cells. BME can also be utilized in cell attachment, neurite outgrowth, angiogenesis, in vitro cell invasion and in vivo tumorigenicity assays.

PRODUCT FEATURES
• Rapid - gels within 30 minutes at 37 °C.
• Reliable - maintains gelled form in culture medium for 14 days.
• Sterile - screened for bacteria, fungi, and mycoplasma.
• Specific - available with reduced growth factor content, with or without Phenol Red, and additional sterility testing.

Cultrex® BME Selection Guide

Application	Name	Description	RGF Version Available?	Notes
Organoids and Stem Cells	NEW! Cultrex UltiMatrix RGF BME	Soluble form of basement membrane that provides high tensile strength, enhanced levels of entactin/nidogen, elevated protein concentration, and robust clarity and purity.	Yes	This matrix contains compositional enhancements and performance benefits for organoid and stem cell culture.
Stem Cells	Cultrex Stem Cell Qualified BME	Provides an effective feeder-free surface for the attachment and maintenance of stem cells in an undifferentiated state, enabling growth promotion or study of stem cell differentiation.	Yes	Attachment and maintenance of stem human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells.
Stem Cells	Cultrex ReadyBME, Stem Cell Qualified	Pre-diluted, pre-qualified ready-to-use basement membrane extract for feeder-free pluripotent stem cell maintenance and differentiation.	Yes	Improves experiment consistency and success by minimizing user handling and coating matrix dilution variability.
3-D Tissue Spheroids	Cultrex 3-D Culture Matrix BME*	BME used for modeling the morphological effects of early oncogenesis on 3-D microenvironments, wherein healthy, differentiating cells exhibit a structured, polarized morphology that is critical for tissue formation and function. Specifically produced for and qualified in 3-D culture studies.	Yes	3-D cell cultures.
Organoid	Cultrex Organoid Qualified BME, Type 2	A Reduced Growth Factor BME that has been developed and qualified specifically for robust organoid cultures.	Yes	Robust organoid cultures.
Organoid	Cultrex Organoid Qualified BME, Type R1	A Reduced Growth Factor BME that has been developed and qualified specifically for difficult organoid cultures.	Yes	Difficult to culture organoids.
Cancer/Tumorspheres	Cultrex BME, Type 3*	BME Type 3 helps cells to adapt to in vivo transplantation. Mimicking the in vivo microenvironment, including low glucose and low pH, to improve take rate and growth of implanted cells for xenograft and tumorgraft models.	No	Xenograft/Tumorgrafts.
General	Cultrex BME*	Consists of laminin I, type IV collagen, entactin, and heparan sulfate proteoglycan.	Yes	General use including 2-D cultures, 3-D cultures, cell attachment and cell invasion.