Hank's salts

Hank's Salts is a collective group of salts rich in bicarbonate ions. Typically, they are used as a buffer system in cell culture media and aid in maintaining the optimum physiological pH (roughly 7.0-7.4) for cellular growth. Due to their poorly reactive nature and small concentration in solution, Hank's Salts are mainly used in media that is exposed to atmospheric conditions as opposed to CO2 incubation. Performing the latter drastically exceeds the buffer capacity of Hank's Salts and may result in cell death.