Compared to other basal media, F-12 contains a wider variety of components, including zinc, putrescine, hypoxanthine, and thymidine. Serum-free growth of CHO cells in F-12 has led to a variety of improved formulations.

cGMP Manufacturing and Quality System：
Gibco F-12 is manufactured at a cGMP compliant facility located in Grand Island, New York. The facility is registered with the FDA as a medical device manufacturer and is certified to ISO 13485 standards.

Gibco F-12 contains no proteins or growth factors. Therefore, F-12 requires supplementation, commonly with 10% Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS). F-12 uses a sodium bicarbonate buffer system (1.176 g/L) and therefore requires a 5-10% CO2 environment to maintain physiological pH. Powder forms of Gibco cell culture medium require sodium bicarbonate supplementation, pH adjustment, and filtration at the time of preparation