From Bioblast
- high-resolution terminology - matching measurements at high-resolution
MitoPedia: Permeabilization agents
The MitoPedia terminology is developed continuously in the spirit of Gentle Science.
| Term | Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Digitonin | Dig | Digitonin is a mild detergent that permeabilizes plasma membranes selectively due to their high cholesterol content, whereas mt-membranes with lower cholesterol content are affected only at higher concentrations. Digitonin is a natural product and thus the effective concentration has to be determined by titrations for every batch. The optimum effective digitonin concentrations for complete plasma membrane permeabilization of cultured cells can be determined directly in a respirometric protocol (see: SUIT-010 O2 ce-pce D008). |
| Ethanol | ethanol abs. |  Ethanol or ethyl alcohol, C2H6O or EtOH, is widely used in the laboratory, particularly as a solvent and cleaning agent. There are different grades of high purity ethanol. Up to a purity of 95.6 % ethanol can be separated from water by destillation. Higher concentrations than 95% require usage of additives that disrupt the azeotrope composition and allow further distillation. Ethanol is qualified as "absolute" if it contains no more than one percent water. Whenever 'ethanol abs.' is mentioned without further specification in published protocols, it refers to ≥ 99 % ethanol a.r. (analytical reagent grade).
|
| Preparation of SUIT chemicals | Preparation of SUIT chemicals describes the preparation of chemicals used in Substrate-Uncoupler-Inhibitor Ttitration (SUIT) protocols. | |
| Saponin | Sap | Saponin is a mild detergent that permeabilizes plasma membranes completely and selectively due to their high cholesterol content, whereas mt-membranes with lower cholesterol content are affected only at higher concentrations. Applied for permeabilization of muscle fibres. |
| Volume of the solute | Most of the chemicals for SUIT protocol titrations are prepared by weighing the substance on the balance, transferring to a volumetric glass flask and adding solvent until the intended volume is reached. However, for practical reasons some of the chemical compounds are prepared by just adding the solvent instead of adjusting it's volume. For example, this approach is useful if the substance is very toxic. Then an arbitratry amount is taken, its mass determined on the balance without trying to reach a specific value and the necessary amount of solvent is added. Adding the solvent instead of adjusting its volume is also useful if small amounts are needed (e.g. 1 mL) or if the compound has to be prepared directly before using it like Pyruvate. In these cases the volume contributed by the solute was tested. |
