RPMI-1640 medium was developed by Moore et al., at Roswell Park Memorial Institute, hence the acronym RPMI. The formulation is based on the RPMI-1630 series of media utilizing a bicarbonate buffering system and alterations in the amounts of amino acids and vitamins. RPMI-1640 medium has been used for the culture of human normal and neoplastic leukocytes. RPMI-1640 when properly supplemented, has demonstrated wide applicability for supporting growth of many types of cell cultures, including fresh human lymphocytes in the 72-hour phytohemagglutinin (PHA) stimulation assay.

There are a variety of formulations:
12-702         - with L-glutamine
BE12-702/U1 - with UltraGlutamineI
BE15-702D    - [powder] with L-glutamine
12-167          - without L-glutamine
12-115          - with L-glutamine and 25 mM HEPES buffer
BE12-115/U1 - with UltraGlutamineI and 25 mM HEPES buffer
04-525          - with L-glutamine and 165 nM MOPS (used for some mycological assays)
09-774          - with L-glutamine, 25 mM HEPES buffer 100 units/ml penicillin, 50 ug/ml streptomycin
12-918          - without L-glutamine or phenol red
BE12-752       - with L-glutamine, without D-glucose

Storage = 2ºC to 8ºC 
  (versions without L-glutamine and those with UltraGlutamine can be stored at 15ºC to 30ºC)

MEM Alpha was developed in 1971 and differs from standard MEM by containing the following unique components:  vitamin B12, ascorbic acid, non-essential amino acids, sodium pyruvate, lipoic acid, and D-biotin.
This media has been used to culture bone marrow cells and amniotic cells for chromosome analysis.

MEM Alpha is available as:
12-169 - without L-glutamine, deoxyribonucleosides or ribonucleosides
BE02-002 - with Ultraglutamine, deoxyribonucleosides and ribonucleosides