The sterilization process (UV sterilization or autoclave, heat-pressure sterility) ideally is followed by researchers to eliminate out the microbial contamination. In practice, the organic molecules synthesized and purified in lab shouldn't contain any microbial contamination (as the necessary elements for microbial growth are absent). Does it really important to follow the sterilization practice before use it in cell culture? (Sterilization of molecules may cause degradation)
I, personally think that sterilization is needed in this context. It only takes one stray bacteria to contaminate cell culture. So, prevention is the key.
If you are preparing soluble molecules, you could sterilize the solution by filtering it through 0,2 um filter. The solutions prepared in this manner are considered sterile and you can avoid UV sterilization and autoclave. Also, that could prevent the degradation of your molecules.
If you think the molecules are sterile, perform a simple test. Prepare cell-culture medium without antibiotics and with FCS, add your product and place it in the cell incubator. Leave it there for a week and monitor will you have contamination or not.
Good luck!
Yes, it is necessary to follow the 'appropriate' sterilisation protocol for cell cultures since they are quite prone to contamination. The type of sterilisation method depends on the type of molecule used and it's sensitivity towards heat, radiation etc. If your chemically synthesized molecule is stable upon autoclaving or applying radiation, then you might go ahead with that otherwise, incase of cell cultures, filtration is the most widely used sterilisation method since most media components (I assume that your organic molecule will be supplied to the cells through the media) used in the culture are heat-liable and/or radiation-sensitive and hence autoclaving and/or radiation may not be an option. Hope this helps. Good Luck!
Yes, it is necesary. Many instruments and the water that you will use are not completely clean. Organic compounds solutions can also be sterelized using syringe filtration with mambrane of 0.2 micrometers, that won´t take you so much time and wont´t degrade your compound. I use this method to prepare sterile caffeine solutions.
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