Skip to Content
Merck
All Photos(4)

Documents

A3803

Sigma-Aldrich

Bovine Serum Albumin

heat shock fraction, lyophilized powder, essentially fatty acid free, ≥98% (agarose gel electrophoresis)

Synonym(s):

Albumin bovine serum, BSA, Bovine albumin

Sign Into View Organizational & Contract Pricing


About This Item

CAS Number:
EC Number:
MDL number:
UNSPSC Code:
12352202
NACRES:
NA.25

biological source

bovine

Quality Level

Assay

≥98% (agarose gel electrophoresis)

form

lyophilized powder

mol wt

~66 kDa

purified by

heat shock fractionation

packaging

poly bottle of

origin

USA origin

technique(s)

cell culture | mammalian: suitable

impurities

≤0.005% Fatty acids

loss

≤5.0%, Loss on drying

pH

7

solubility

water: soluble (40 mg/ml)

suitability

suitable for ELISA applications (as diluent)

UniProt accession no.

foreign activity

BT Virus, none detected
VSV Virus, none detected

storage temp.

2-8°C

Gene Information

bovine ... ALB(280717)

Looking for similar products? Visit Product Comparison Guide

General description

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is a 66.4 kDa, water-soluble protein composed of 583 amino acids. It has a single polypeptide chain with three homologous domains formed by six α-helices. Depending on pH, it undergoes reversible conformational isomerization. The native structure of the protein becomes reactive and flexible on heating. BSA has been used as a model protein in various applications, including immunodiagnostic procedures, cell culture media and clinical chemistry. Serum albumins facilitates drug disposition and efficacy by maintaining osmotic blood pressure.

Application

Bovine Serum Albumin has been used:
  • to prevent nonspecific adsorption of fibrin matrices to tissue culture plates
  • as a constituent in the preparation of albumin droplets
  • as a supplement in L-15 medium to increase spermatogonia number without enhancing the growth of somatic cells
  • as a standard protein to evaluate metal oxide adsorption isotherms

Among its many applications, BSA is a fatty acid (FA) carrier. Thus when BSA is used in applications like cell culture, it is important to exercise control over particular FA′s for cell culture, because specific fatty acids can affect different cell lines in a variable manner. In order to control fatty acid content in cell culture, fatty acid-free BSA is useful, for researchers to be able fatty acids specific to their cell lines. Fatty acid-free BSA also allows for optimal and maximum binding sites for the specific FA′s to use in cell culture. The use of FA-free BSA also addresses concerns about endogenous fatty acids that might be potentially present in non-FA-free BSA.

Biochem/physiol Actions

Certain conformational and primary-sequence epitopes of BSA are suspected allergens in human beef and milk allergies.

Features and Benefits

  • Heat shock fractionated
  • Essentially fatty acid-free

Preparation Note

Prepared using heat shock fractionation. Further purified to reduce fatty acid content.
Serum albumin may be referred to as Fraction V. This naming convention is taken from the original Cohn method of fractionating serum proteins using cold ethanol precipitation. Serum albumin was found in the fifth ethanol fraction using Cohn′s method. Since then, the term "Fraction V" has been used by some to describe serum albumin regardless of the method of preparation. Others have used this term to describe serum albumin purified by ethanol fractionation methods that have been highly modified since the original Cohn method was described. Sigma-Aldrich manufactures and distributes serum albumins purified from a variety of primary methods including the true Cohn fractionation method, modified ethanol fractionation methods, heat shock and chromatography. Additional purification steps may include crystallization or charcoal filtration.

Storage Class Code

11 - Combustible Solids

WGK

WGK 3

Flash Point(F)

Not applicable

Flash Point(C)

Not applicable

Personal Protective Equipment

dust mask type N95 (US), Eyeshields, Gloves

Certificates of Analysis (COA)

Search for Certificates of Analysis (COA) by entering the products Lot/Batch Number. Lot and Batch Numbers can be found on a product’s label following the words ‘Lot’ or ‘Batch’.

Already Own This Product?

Find documentation for the products that you have recently purchased in the Document Library.

Visit the Document Library

Improved in vitro culture conditions to enhance the survival, mitotic activity, and transplantability of rainbow trout type a spermatogonia
Shikina S and Yoshizaki G
Biology of Reproduction, 83(2), 268-276 (2010)
Initial investigation of acoustic droplet vaporization for occlusion in canine kidney
Zhang M, et al.
Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 36(10), 1691-1703 (2010)
Protein adsorption onto metal oxide materials in white wine model systems
Pachova V, et al.
Journal of Food Science, 67(6), 2118-2121 (2002)
The role of inertial cavitation in acoustic droplet vaporization
Fabiilli ML, et al.
IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, 56(5), 1006-1017 (2009)
Marie Christou-Kent et al.
EMBO molecular medicine, 10(5) (2018-04-18)
The genetic causes of oocyte meiotic deficiency (OMD), a form of primary infertility characterised by the production of immature oocytes, remain largely unexplored. Using whole exome sequencing, we found that 26% of a cohort of 23 subjects with OMD harboured

Articles

Available Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) procedures, reagents and equipment.

Available Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) procedures, reagents and equipment.

Available Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) procedures, reagents and equipment.

Available Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) procedures, reagents and equipment.

Related Content

Learn about bovine serum albumin (BSA) structure, molecular weight, function, solubility, how BSA is made, purification methods, applications and purchasing.

Learn about bovine serum albumin (BSA) structure, molecular weight, function, solubility, how BSA is made, purification methods, applications and purchasing.

Learn about bovine serum albumin (BSA) structure, molecular weight, function, solubility, how BSA is made, purification methods, applications and purchasing.

Learn about bovine serum albumin (BSA) structure, molecular weight, function, solubility, how BSA is made, purification methods, applications and purchasing.

Our team of scientists has experience in all areas of research including Life Science, Material Science, Chemical Synthesis, Chromatography, Analytical and many others.

Contact Technical Service