BASAL MEDIUM EAGLE (BME)

The Basal Medium Eagle (BME), developed by Harry Eagle, is one of the most widely used of all synthetic cell culture media. There are several “basal” culture media described by Eagle that vary slightly from one another. The Tissue Culture Association recommends using the name “Basal Medium Eagle” to describe only the formula developed to support HeLa cells. The Basal Medium Eagle, when properly completed, has demonstrated broad applicability for supporting single layer growth of a wide variety of normal and transformed cell lines. BME is the predecessor of Eagle Minimum Essential Medium (MEM) and Dulbecco Modified Eagle Medium (D-MEM). This is the simplest of the basic media with all the essential components for cell growth. Basal Medium Eagle (BME) ideally favors cell lines such as HeLa, L-cells and primary mammalian fibroblasts.