Quercetin Muscle Cell Medium for Serum-Free Cultured Meat

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Solution Overview

Problem

The production of cultured meat is hindered by the high cost and ethical concerns associated with fetal bovine serum, limited cell line compatibility with serum-free media, and the need for cumbersome adaptation processes, which complicates the production of cultured meat at a lower cost and faster rate.

Innovation Solution

A medium composition containing quercetin as an active ingredient that promotes muscle cell differentiation by regulating the expression of MYOD, myogenin, and myosin heavy chain, thereby enhancing muscle cell proliferation and differentiation, and potentially reducing production costs and time.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If fetal bovine serum is used in cell culture medium, then cell culture effectiveness is improved, but production cost increases and ethical concerns arise

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecell culture effectivenessVSAvoidproduction cost
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and eliminates the problematic fetal bovine serum component from the cell culture medium, replacing it with a serum-free formulation that uses alternative supplements (insulin, transferrin, selenium, epidermal growth factor, hydrocortisone) to achieve the necessary biological functions without the ethical and cost issues associated with animal-derived serum

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces expensive fetal bovine serum with more cost-effective synthetic alternatives and plant-derived compounds, creating a cheaper medium formulation that can be produced at scale without the high costs associated with animal serum procurement and processing

Inventive Principle:
Principle #27Cheap short-living objects (Disposable)

2Object-affected harmful factors

If serum-free medium is used to replace fetal bovine serum, then ethical and environmental issues are resolved, but cell line compatibility is limited and adaptation processes become cumbersome

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveethical and environmental issuesVSAvoidcell line compatibility
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent develops a universal serum-free medium formulation that can support multiple different cell lines (bovine muscle cells, porcine muscle cells, chicken muscle cells) with the same base composition, eliminating the need for line-specific adaptations while maintaining high cell culture effectiveness across diverse cell types

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent optimizes the concentrations and combinations of supplements (increasing insulin to 10 µg/mL, transferrin to 5 µg/mL, selenium to 30 nM, and adding specific growth factors) to create a parameter set that broadly supports various cell line requirements without serum, achieving both ethical goals and wide adaptability

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Object-affected harmful factors

If recombinant proteins are added to synthetic medium to create serum-free culture, then fetal bovine serum is eliminated, but production cost remains high

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefetal bovine serum eliminationVSAvoidproduction cost
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The patent creates a composite medium formulation that combines synthetic base medium with a specific mixture of supplements (insulin, transferrin, selenium, epidermal growth factor, hydrocortisone) at optimized concentrations, achieving serum-free cell culture with reduced costs by replacing expensive recombinant proteins with a balanced combination of more affordable components

Inventive Principle:
Principle #40Composite materials

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

Quercetin effectively stimulates muscle cell differentiation and creatine kinase activity, offering a viable alternative to serum-based media by improving cell culture efficiency and reducing production costs and ethical concerns.

Implementation Method 1

the quercetin promotes muscle cell differentiation by regulating expression of one or more selected from the group consisting of myoblast determination protein 1 (MYOD), myogenin, and myosin heavy chain

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectGene expression regulation:

Implementation Method 2

quercetin promotes differentiation of muscle cells by stimulating expression of muscle differentiation-related factors and creatine kinase activity

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectEnzyme activity stimulation: Enzyme

Data Source

PatentEP4685228A1Medium composition for promoting muscle cell differentiation comprising quercetin as active ingredient
Publication Date: 2026.01.28 RES COOPERATION FOUND OF YEUNGNAM UNIV
  • EP4685228A1 patent drawingFigure 1~2(B)
  • EP4685228A1 patent drawingFigure 3A~4D
  • EP4685228A1 patent drawingFigure 5A~6D

AI summary

The present invention relates to a medium composition for promoting muscle cell differentiation, the medium composition comprising quercetin as an active ingredient. Quercetin was found to promote the differentiation of muscle cells through the expression of muscle differentiation-related factors and the promotion of creatine kinase activity and can thus be effectively used as a composition for muscle cell differentiation or a medium composition for producing cultured meat.