MethoCult Classic w/o EPO, 24 x 3mL

Hematopoietic colony-forming unit (CFU) assays depend on a semi-solid matrix to anchor progenitor cells in place, and this erythropoietin-free formulation from STEMCELL Technologies supplies a methylcellulose-based medium without biasing the culture toward erythroid lineage output. The Classic w/o EPO kit is configured as 24 x 3 mL vials and is widely used for scoring myeloid and multi-lineage colonies (CFU-G, CFU-M, CFU-GM, and CFU-GEMM) while excluding EPO-driven BFU-E and CFU-E readouts, giving investigators direct control over whether erythroid colonies appear in their cultures. Researchers who need erythroid colonies can simply supplement with their own recombinant human EPO, making the format equally useful as a base medium for either non-erythroid or erythroid studies.

Each 3 mL vial contains the ready-to-use methylcellulose (approximately 1500 cps) blended with IMDM, fetal bovine serum, bovine serum albumin, L-glutamine, 2-mercaptoethanol, and a defined cytokine cocktail that typically includes recombinant SCF, IL-3, IL-6, G-CSF, and GM-CSF, so bone marrow, peripheral blood, or cord blood mononuclear cells can be plated directly after a 1:10 dilution. Discrete colonies are generally scored after 10–14 days of incubation at 37 °C in a humidified 5% CO₂ incubator, and the high-viscosity matrix keeps progeny anchored without overlapping between adjacent clones. Vials are shipped frozen and should be stored at -20 °C, with aliquoting of the working bottle recommended to avoid repeated freeze-thaw cycles.

Common research applications include characterization of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell content in cord blood units, validation of edited or transduced cells in CRISPR and gene therapy workflows, myelosuppressive and myelostimulatory drug screening, and standardized clonogenic toxicity testing. Standard plating densities fall in the range of 1 x 10⁵ to 2 x 10⁵ mononuclear cells per 35 mm dish, with triplicate dishes per condition recommended for statistically meaningful colony counts. The single-use vial format keeps contamination risk low and supports clean experimental designs across multiple donor samples or treatment arms.