Objectives:
Fetal bovine serum (FBS) has been used as a culture enrichment medium to promote cell differentiation. It is constituted by nutritional factors such as albumin, growth factors, amino acids, sugars, lipids and hormones.

In this work we evaluate the effects of FBS to induce sclerotic cells of Fonsecaea pedrosoi, identified as the main causative agent of chromoblastomycosis

The in vitro isolation of sclerotic cells from Fonsecaea pedrosoi mycelial forms may be a difficult and time-consuming procedure. Different agents such as propranolol and platelet activating factor (PAF) have been used in other studies, however these methods require 45 days to obtain results.
 
Methods:
In the present work we the describe a technique using propranolol as a differentiating agent and adding FBS from the beginning, this modification to the previously described method with propranolol shortens sclerotic cell differentiation to 30 days.
 
Results:
These results indicate that induction of Fonsecaea pedrosoi mycelial forms into sclerotic cells using propranolol may be enhanced by the early addition of FBS, decreasing time for cell differentiation.
 
Conclusion:
The nutritional properties of FBS may reproduce similar conditions to the human host and thus enhance cell induction.

Enhanced differentiation of Fonseca pedrosoi into sclerotic cells using fetal bovine serum