How does the CEPT cocktail overcome cellular stress?

A chemical hug for stressed-out cells

Did you know that January 21 is National Hugging Day? National Hugging Day was first celebrated in 1986 to encourage all of us to hug more often. Hugs are known to elevate our mood and decrease stress, and it stands to reason that a hug could provide similar benefits to cell cultures in the lab as well. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are extremely sensitive to their environment, and when they aren’t packed tightly together in colonies or securely attached to the culture surface, cellular stress increases and cell death occurs.

A new technology discovered in Chen et. al. demonstrated that adding a small molecule cocktail called CEPT to their cultures during stressful conditions enables the cells to remain calm and stay happy during times they would normally experience cellular and genetic damage, and often even death. This small molecule “hug” was shown to significantly improve cell survival, functionality, and the overall success of many critical culture applications. 

So, give your cells a hug – it will help decrease their stress and yours.

Image adapted from Chen et al. Nature Methods. 2021; 18: 528-541.  

How does CEPT minimize cellular stress?

Great question! The CEPT cocktail maintains cell fitness by mitigating pathways of cellular stress and through altering the mechanisms behind cell structure and function. The mechanisms of action are complex and interconnected, but we’ll break them down into 7 main categories: 

• CEPT cocktail inhibits cell contraction leading to apoptosis
• CEPT maintains of normal nuclear circularity 
• CEPT protects cells from DNA damage  
• CEPT prevents cell cycle arrest 
• CEPT restores protein synthesis and cells experience normal protein translation
• CEPT improves cell-cell and cell-ECM interactions 
• CEPT lowers oxidative stress seen on the cells through an increase in glutathione 

This type of comprehensive protection for the cells is important for culturing hPSCs and other types of sensitive cells, specifically when putting cells through a stressful event or culture situation, such as single-cell passaging, gene editing, differentiation, or cryopreservation. 

Ongoing support and development for the CET Cocktail

Captivate Bio is committed to supporting our customers with new technology to speed discovery. As the first to bring this new technology to market, we are actively recruiting labs in the further development of this technology through our Collaboration Program, contact us today to learn more.

Learn More

• Explore the CET Cocktail product information page
• Read our Research Spotlight on hPSC survival using CEPT
• Read the CEPT publication: Chen et al. Nature Methods. 2021; 18: 528-541.