Investigations into cyanobacteria, plant, and insect protein extracts as serum-replacement supplements for the expansion of cells for cultivated meat

Abstract Cultivated meat has undeniable potential to address some of the current detrimental impacts of animal farming, while addressing food security worldwide. However, one of the main challenges in cultivated meat production is manufacturing cost. The main contributor to cost is the culture media which comprises expensive components such as growth factors and animal-derived proteins. This study investigated alternative, food grade, high protein extracts as serum replacements in serum-free media formulations. The extracts were chosen to represent various sustainable sources of proteins: marine (spirulina e.g. cyanobacterium), plant (faba bean) and insect (mealworm flour). Different processing methods and different solvents were investigated for production of cell culture-compatible extracts which were then tested with mouse myoblasts (C2C12) and primary porcine myosatellites (pMyoSCs). A serum-free medium formulation containing 2.6% v/v spirulina extract was found to support long term growth of C2C12 cells for ∼10 population doublings compared to only ∼2 in the control. The processing steps were optimized, showing that a glycerine solution was best for free amino acid and protein yield (4950 µM total free amino acids, 11.45 mg/mL protein concentration). This solution had a positive effect on C2C12 cells, increasing their growth by up to 20% when added to the B8 medium. However, this benefit did not translate to pMyoSCs, which showed no significant growth increases in short-term screening. This work demonstrates a method for converting food grade protein powders into effective culture media supplements and highlights the potential of spirulina-based extracts for the use in cultivated meat. Abstract Figure Graphical abstract Created in BioRender. Gordon-Petrovskii, W. (2025) https://BioRender.com/by7khs1