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3T3-L1

CL-173

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3T3-L1 is a fibroblast that was isolated from the embryo of a mouse. This cell line can be used to study the basic cellular mechanisms associated with diabetes, obesity, and related disorders.
Product category
Animal cells
Organism
Mus musculus, mouse
Classification
Eukaryota, Animalia, Metazoa, Chordata, Vertebrata, Tetrapod
Cell type
fibroblast
Morphology
fibroblast
Tissue
Embryo
Applications
3D cell culture
Product format
Frozen
Storage conditions
Vapor phase of liquid nitrogen
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Documentation

ATCC determines the biosafety level of a material based on our risk assessment as guided by the current edition of Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is your responsibility to understand the hazards associated with the material per your organization’s policies and procedures as well as any other applicable regulations as enforced by your local or national agencies.

ATCC highly recommends that appropriate personal protective equipment is always used when handling vials. For cultures that require storage in liquid nitrogen, it is important to note that some vials may leak when submersed in liquid nitrogen and will slowly fill with liquid nitrogen. Upon thawing, the conversion of the liquid nitrogen back to its gas phase may result in the vial exploding or blowing off its cap with dangerous force creating flying debris. Unless necessary, ATCC recommends that these cultures be stored in the vapor phase of liquid nitrogen rather than submersed in liquid nitrogen.

Required Products

These products are vital for the proper use of this item and have been confirmed as effective in supporting functionality. If you use alternative products, the quality and effectiveness of the item may be affected.

Detailed product information

General

Specific applications
This cell line is a suitable transfection host.

Characteristics

Growth properties
Adherent
Passage history
ATCC CL-173 was deposited in 1974 without passage number information from the depositor. At the time of submission, ATCC prepared approximately 30 vials of seed stock at about 4 passages beyond the original depositor material (passage number: unknown)
Derivation
L1 is a continuous substrain of 3T3 (Swiss albino) developed through clonal isolation.
Age
embryo
Genes expressed
triglycerides
Expression markers
Insulin, expressed
Comments
The cells undergo a pre-adipose to adipose like conversion as they progress from a rapidly dividing to a confluent and contact inhibited state. A high serum content in the medium enhances fat accumulation [PubMed ID: 4426090].
Tested and found negative for ectromelia virus (mousepox).
This line is also designated as ATCC CCL-92.1. ATCC CL-173 was deposited in 1974 without passage number information from the depositor. 
Technical information
ATCC Technical Services does not have technical information on patent deposits that are not produced or characterized by ATCC. Additional information can be found in the corresponding patent available from the patent holder or with the U.S. and/or international patent office.

Handling information

Unpacking and storage instructions
  1. Check all containers for leakage or breakage.
  2. Remove the frozen cells from the dry ice packaging and immediately place the cells at a temperature below ­-130°C, preferably in liquid nitrogen vapor, until ready for use.
Complete medium
The base medium for this cell line is ATCC-formulated Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (ATCC 30-2002). To make the complete growth medium, add the following components to the base medium: bovine calf serum (ATCC 30-2030) to a final concentration of 10%.
Temperature
37°C
Atmosphere
95% Air, 5% CO2
Handling procedure

Handling Procedure for Frozen Cells

To insure the highest level of viability, thaw the vial and initiate the culture as soon as possible upon receipt. If upon arrival, continued storage of the frozen culture is necessary, it should be stored in liquid nitrogen vapor phase and not at  -70°C.  Storage at -70°C will result in loss of viability.

SAFETY PRECAUTION: ATCC highly recommends that protective gloves and clothing always be used and a full face mask always be worn when handling frozen vials.  It is important to note that some vials leak when submersed in liquid nitrogen and will slowly fill with liquid nitrogen.  Upon thawing, the conversion of the liquid nitrogen back to its gas phase may result in the vessel exploding or blowing off its cap with dangerous force creating flying debris. 

  1. Thaw the vial by gentle agitation in a 37°C water bath. To reduce the possibility of contamination, keep the O-ring and cap out of the water. Thawing should be rapid (approximately 2 minutes).
  2. Remove the vial from the water bath as soon as the contents are thawed, and decontaminate by dipping in or spraying with 70% ethanol. All of the operations from this point on should be carried out under strict aseptic conditions.
  3. Transfer the vial contents to a centrifuge tube containing 9.0 mL complete culture medium and spin at approximately 150 to 200 x g for 8 to 12 minutes. Discard supernatant.
  4. Resuspend the cell pellet with the recommended complete medium and dispense into a 25 cm2 culture flask.  It is important to avoid excessive alkalinity of the medium during recovery of the cells.  It is suggested that, prior to the addition of the vial contents, the culture vessel containing the complete growth medium be placed into the incubator for at least 15 minutes to allow the medium to reach its normal pH (7.0 to 7.6).
  5. Incubate the culture at 37°C in a suitable incubator.  A 5% CO2 in air atmosphere is recommended if using the medium described on this product sheet.
Subculturing procedure
Protocol: Never allow culture to become completely confluent.
  1. Remove and discard culture medium.
  2. Briefly rinse the cell layer with D-PBS (ATCC 30-2200) to remove all traces of serum that contains trypsin inhibitor.
  3. Add 2.0 to 3.0 mL of Trypsin-EDTA solution (ATCC 2101) to flask and observe cells under an inverted microscope until cell layer is dispersed (usually within 5 to 15 minutes).
    Note: To avoid clumping do not agitate the cells by hitting or shaking the flask while waiting for the cells to detach. Cells that are difficult to detach may be placed at 37C to facilitate dispersal.
  4. Add 6.0 to 8.0 ml of complete growth medium and aspirate cells by gently pipetting.
  5. Add appropriate aliquots of the cell suspension to new culture vessels.
    The recommended inoculum is 2 to 3 X 103 cells/cm2. Subculture before cultures become 70 to 80% confluent or when cells reach 5 to 6 X104 viable cells/cm2. Corning T-75 flasks (catalog #431464) are recommended for subculturing this product.
  6. Incubate cultures at 37°C.
Interval: Every three days
Medium Renewal: 2 to 3 times per week
Note: The serum used is important in culturing this line. Calf serum is recommended and not fetal bovine serum. The calf serum initially employed and found to be satisfactory was from the Colorado Serum Co. Denver.
Reagents for cryopreservation
Complete growth medium supplemented with 5% (v/v) DMSO (ATCC 4-X)

Quality control specifications

Bacterial and fungal testing
Not detected
Mycoplasma contamination
Not detected

History

Deposited as
Mus musculus
Depositors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Patent depository
This material was deposited with the ATCC Patent Depository to fulfill U.S. or international patent requirements. This material may not have been produced or characterized by ATCC.  As an International Depository Authority (IDA) for patent deposits, ATCC is required to complete viability testing only at time of initial deposit of patent material. Patent deposits are made available on behalf of the Depositor when the pertinent U.S. or international patent is issued, but material may not be used to infringe the patent claims.
Patent number
4,003,789

Legal disclaimers

Intended use
This product is intended for laboratory research use only. It is not intended for any animal or human therapeutic use, any human or animal consumption, or any diagnostic use.
Warranty

The product is provided 'AS IS' and the viability of ATCC® products is warranted for 30 days from the date of shipment, provided that the customer has stored and handled the product according to the information included on the product information sheet, website, and Certificate of Analysis. For living cultures, ATCC lists the media formulation and reagents that have been found to be effective for the product. While other unspecified media and reagents may also produce satisfactory results, a change in the ATCC and/or depositor-recommended protocols may affect the recovery, growth, and/or function of the product. If an alternative medium formulation or reagent is used, the ATCC warranty for viability is no longer valid.  Except as expressly set forth herein, no other warranties of any kind are provided, express or implied, including, but not limited to, any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, manufacture according to cGMP standards, typicality, safety, accuracy, and/or noninfringement.

Disclaimers

This product is intended for laboratory research use only. It is not intended for any animal or human therapeutic use, any human or animal consumption, or any diagnostic use. Any proposed commercial use is prohibited without a license from ATCC.

While ATCC uses reasonable efforts to include accurate and up-to-date information on this product sheet, ATCC makes no warranties or representations as to its accuracy. Citations from scientific literature and patents are provided for informational purposes only. ATCC does not warrant that such information has been confirmed to be accurate or complete and the customer bears the sole responsibility of confirming the accuracy and completeness of any such information.

This product is sent on the condition that the customer is responsible for and assumes all risk and responsibility in connection with the receipt, handling, storage, disposal, and use of the ATCC product including without limitation taking all appropriate safety and handling precautions to minimize health or environmental risk. As a condition of receiving the material, the customer agrees that any activity undertaken with the ATCC product and any progeny or modifications will be conducted in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines. This product is provided 'AS IS' with no representations or warranties whatsoever except as expressly set forth herein and in no event shall ATCC, its parents, subsidiaries, directors, officers, agents, employees, assigns, successors, and affiliates be liable for indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any kind in connection with or arising out of the customer's use of the product. While reasonable effort is made to ensure authenticity and reliability of materials on deposit, ATCC is not liable for damages arising from the misidentification or misrepresentation of such materials.

Please see the material transfer agreement (MTA) for further details regarding the use of this product. The MTA is available at www.atcc.org.

Disclosures
This material is cited in a US and/or international patent and may not be used to infringe the claims. Depending on the wishes of the Depositor, ATCC may be required to inform the Depositor of the party to which the material was furnished.

Permits & Restrictions

Import Permit for the State of Hawaii

If shipping to the U.S. state of Hawaii, you must provide either an import permit or documentation stating that an import permit is not required. We cannot ship this item until we receive this documentation. Contact the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA), Plant Industry Division, Plant Quarantine Branch to determine if an import permit is required.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PERMITS AND RESTRICTIONS

Frequently Asked Questions

References

Curated Citations

Green H, Meuth M. An established pre-adipose cell line and its differentiation in culture. Cell 3: 127-133, 1974. PubMed: 4426090

Green H. Triglyceride-accumulating clonal cell line. US Patent 4,003,789 dated Jan 18 1977

Goodrum FD, et al. Adenovirus early region 4 34-kilodalton protein directs the nuclear localization of the early region 1B 55-kilodalton protein in primate cells. J. Virol. 70: 6323-6335, 1996. PubMed: 8709260

Scherer PE, et al. Identification, sequence, and expression of caveolin-2 defines a caveolin gene family. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93: 131-135, 1996. PubMed: 8552590

Kallen CB, Lazar MA. Antidiabetic thiazolidinediones inhibit leptin (ob) gene expression in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93: 5793-5796, 1996. PubMed: 8650171

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