Hi there. I've been using PBS that I keep in a PC2 fume hood for my experiments. In the past, I always UV irradiated the fume hood for 20 minutes with the PBS (stored in a Falcon tube) still inside, thinking nothing of it but have since found differing opinions regarding this practice. I've gone back to using fresh, chilled solution but am still wondering if ultraviolet light somehow influences the chemistry of PBS. Can anyone shed any light on the topic?
Cheers!
Most of the UV light should be absorbed by the glass of the container, and since PBS contains only inorganic compounds, I don't think exposure to the UV in the hood should have any effect.
However, having a lot of things in the biosafety hood interferes with the air flow, reducing the effectiveness of the hood to maintain sterility. I would suggest keeping as little as possible in the hood. Wash everything down thoroughly with 70% ethanol before placing it in the hood.
Hi everyone,
Thank you for your responses. I kept the hood-resident PBS as a stock in a Falcon tube, but perhaps transferring to a glass bottle is better? The reason I kept it in the hood was to minimise chances of contamination through continued removal and replacement of the stock solution throughout my experiments.
Cheers!
The UV will damage the plastic of the tube. It will eventually crumble.
This is an interesting question. I always avoided exposing reagents and solutions from UV. But performed the transfer after wiping off the lid etc. I speculate part of the UV (near UV) might be able to penetrate in some of these containers depending on the transmission property of the material. UV is known to generate free radicals and unstable ions in aqueous solution that may impact the performance of the material.
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