Handle Non-Ionic Surfactants In Cell Media Samples With Ease

Non-ionic surfactants like Tween 20 and Tween 80 can be additives to cell media for a variety of purposes. If Tweens are used at low concentrations, they are considered mild surfactants since they do not interfere with protein-protein interactions. Tweens primarily work to disassociate protein-lipid and lipid-lipid interactions, so they are often used to lyse cells to improve protein extraction and isolate nuclei. Tween may improve protein solubility and secretion, in addition to preventing aggregation and stabilizing high-order  structure. In some bioprocesses, Tweens may affect cell viability, growth rates, and biofilm formation. Additionally, Tween containing samples might encounter interference with traditional chromatographic approaches and require extraction or purification procedures for removal before analysis.

Non-ionic surfactants can interfere with traditional chromatographic analysis. At-line mass spec devices can bypass that complexity.