There's a debate going on currently in my lab about whether or not it's appropriate to reuse tissue culture flasks for 2-4 passages under extremely sterile conditions. I've looked around and have seen mixed answers, where the main concern seems to be contamination issues. So, setting only contamination issues aside are there any other legitimate reasons that this may be an acceptable/unacceptable practice?
Yes you can reuse them, glass, plastic...
If your problem is contamination you can wash the containers first with bleach and detergent and then autoclave them. I never had problems with this and I reused them more than 10x.
I used this type of containers http://www.microbox-container.com/
H Alexis,
Your question failed to mention if you are asking about "animal cell/ tissue culture" or "plant tissue" culture!
Seems you are asking about animal cell lines, and hence, 'flask' etc and your profile suggests so, Muthana is suggesting about plants, and Marta is suggesting plant tissue culture practices as well.
With experience in both, I would say "NO" if it is animal cell culture/ tissue culture, as not only contamination/ mycoplasma issues but also 'adhesion' of cell lines, left over enzymes and chemicals- so clearly a no.
For plants, they work fine- glass or "autoclavable" plastic.
By the way, unsure if in animal cell culture those plastics are sterilizable or even recommended for such- no matter heat or ethanol- do not think are helpful enough!
Thanks and hope it helps.
Biswa
Resterilise Magenta containers and glass no problem. However, as Biswa mentions I would be dubious about re-using containers previously containing animal cultures. You could consider using disposable plastic containers instead, but of course, that has implications for recycling.
Non glass bottles can be Gama ray sterilized and reused...
I also had positive experience in sterilize and reuse glass bottles in plant tissue culture techniques. So, to me reuse of glass bottles after is fine and environmentally correct... But, looking around, it seems that the cleaning step is critical for the success or the failure in to do that.
Yes U can reuse these flasks wheather They are made of glass or plastic but after sterilizing them in the autocleave.
Yes, for plant tissue culture the containers can be reused after proper cleaning and autoclaving
Pyrex and Corning glass ware is safe and can be used many times if properly sterlised.
Yes, Flasks can be reused after double sterilization and cleaning .
I can not see egy not to reuse those flaks. If they are made of glass you can clean, sterilize and reuse them until they get broken. This is the practice in my láb, too.
Dear alexis,
Usually the labs glassware is made from Borosilicate glass. That contains 7-13% boron oxide. It known for having very low coefficients of thermal expansion , making them resistant to thermal shock compared to the normal glass.
Such glass releases time-by-time boron in the culture media during the culture. Is boron concentration reduced, the glass is no more stable und breaks by e.g. autoclaving. The released boron can affect your data if you want to study the role of boron in vitro culture, for that you may use the plastic flask.
Tissue culture flasks can be reused if they are washed and properly sterilized.
1. For plant cell tissue culture: both 'disposable' and 're-usable' can be used. We have been using disposable sterilized plastic containers (Phytatray IITM, see below picture), and re-usable containers (MegentaTM box, glass bottles).
2. For animal cell tissue culture: it depends on which experiments you are conducting, some experiments the 'disposable' containers are preferred to be used. However, for some others, 're-usable' containers are used.
Attached article is from CorningTM company. They produced re-usable glass container for animal cell culture. Those containers are tolerable to repeat autoclave (see attachment, page 2-4).
All the autoclavable glass (high purity) containers can be re-used in tissue culture without any problems such as:
- Glass test tube, conical flasks, Petri dishes,
- Glass bottles and baby-food jars with polypropylene caps are the most widely used containers.On the other hand, transparent plastic containers, such as ‘Magenta’TM vessels, that withstand autoclaving and washing, are extensively used, but the repeated autoclaving of the plastic containers renders them cloudy (thus reducing the passage of light), tacticity as well ,
Above, some members (including myself) have mentioned using plastic MagentaTM boxes for plant tissue cultures (see below attachment). However, the problem of using them is that after repeated use (washing/autoclaving), some of the boxes will show whitish spots/stains on the appearance of the boxes. Although it won't cause contamination, they can affect light intensity or even become a problem for taking pictures due to its opacity.
This topic has been discussing in another Question on RG:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Has_anyone_had_trouble_with_permanent_stains_in_magenta_boxes_after_cleaning_and_autoclaving
Yes, you can reuse flasks but you must do proper cleaning and sterilization.
just autoclaving at appropriate temperature is enough subject to the health of culture vessels.
Yes, you can reuse and autoclave it for several times. Nothing happens to it specially if it is made up of good quality autoclavable glass or pyrex.
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