Homogenization of Kidney Tissue

Instrument: Bullet Blender

Sample:  Kidney Tissue

Protocol:

  1. Cut kidney into appropriately sized pieces for analysis (10mg-300mg).
  2. OPTIONAL: Wash tissue 3x with ~1mL PBS. Aspirate. NOTE: This step removes some external contaminants (blood, etc.).
  3. Samples
    1. Samples 100mg or greater Place the sample in Red bead lysis kit tube.
    2. Samples less than 100mg Place the sample in Pink bead lysis kit tube.
    3. Alternate protocol step for bulk beads. Place sample in microcentrifuge tube and add beads to the tube. Use a volume of beads equal to the mass of tissue. NOTE: 100mg ≅ 100μ
  4. Add 0.025mL to 0.6mL buffer (2 volumes of buffer for every volume of sample).
  5. Close the microcentrifuge tubes.
  6. Place tubes into the Bullet Blender®.
  7. Set controls for SPEED 8 and TIME 4 minutes. Press Start.
  8. After the run, remove tubes from the instrument.
  9. Visually inspect samples. If homogenization is unsatisfactory, run for another three minutes at the SPEED 10.
  10. Remove sample tubes from the Bullet Blender® and proceed with your downstream application.

Results: