Unique Laboratory Sterilization Methods

It is very essential to utilize effective sterilization techniques when dealing with isolated cell lines. The main and obvious reason is that you wouldn’t want bugs that are in the environment to grow in your well-prepared culture medium. The cultures must at all times be sterilized before disposal. To achieve this you can purchase micron filter syringe. Image credit: simsii.net Common Sterilization Techniques: Use of Wet Heat It is also known as autoclaving and it is the most suitable method for sterilization in many laboratories. It entails the use of pressurized steam to sterilize. It is very effective and has been proven to kills all microbes, viruses, and spores. However, specific bugs need very high temperatures or long incubation times in order to clear them. Autoclaving makes use of hydrolysis and the coagulation proteins in the cells. This is efficiently achieved by the intensely heated steam. Pressurized steam has very high latent heat. The heat is delivered rapidly and penetrates well into dense materials. At very high temperatures, water performs its role of hydrolyzing the cellular proteins and the microbes die. Use of Dry Heat rnThis is a process termed as baking or flaming and has one important difference from autoclaving, which is, no water is used in this case hence hydrolysis of proteins does not occur. The microbes are killed through oxidation of their cellular components. Unlike hydrolysis, this technique requires more energy; therefore, higher temperatures are needed for efficient sterilization to be attained. Filtration It entails sterilization of solutions without heating. The filters work by allowing the solution to pass through a well-designed filter having a pore diameter that prevents microbes from passing through. rnFilters can be in form of special glass funnels that are made of heat-fused glass particles. They can also be membrane filters made using cellulose esters. The average diameter of each pore is 0.2um. However, phage and viruses can still pass through the pores hence not the best option. Use of Solvents Ethanol is the most common solvent used as a disinfectant. Isopropanol is regarded as a better solvent for it dissolves fat. Their mechanism of action is denaturing proteins and the process requires water. Therefore, water must be used to dilute to make them effective. However, they can only kill the microbes and not the spores. Use of Radiation The use of electromagnetic radiations like Ultra Violet rays, gamma rays and X-rays have been proven to damage the microbes’ DNA hence used to sterilize tools. UV has very limited penetration when in the air, therefore, sterilization only occurs normally in a fairly small surface around the lamp. It is relatively useful and safe for sterilizing small areas such as laminar flow hoods. The X-rays and gamma rays penetrate more and are very effective for cold sterilization items made of plastics (e.g. syringes) in large-scale manufacturing industries. New Techniques There are also newer techniques that can be used in the sterilization processes. It is worth to purchase micron filter syringe designed to sterilize and clarify sterile solutions.