|
RNAlater® Around the World:
The Art of Processing Difficult Samples
Draw on the strength of RNAlater® to protect cellular RNA within specimens during sample collection or shipping. Whether you are in the lab or out in the field, this aqueous, non-toxic Tissue Collection:RNA Stabilization Solution functions from ambient temperatures down to -20°C. Here is a snapshot of how researchers have used RNAlater in exciting discoveries around the world.
Pancreas--Germany
Isolating intact RNA from pancreas can be
difficult because of high levels of nucleases expressed in this
tissue. In a study about circadian expression of clock genes,
scientists used RNAlater to collect rat pancreata at three
hour intervals for eventual quantitative RT-PCR analyses. These
experiments provide growing evidence of circadian pacemakers
in islets and begin to examine the role of dysrhythmic insulin
secretion at the onset of diabetes mellitus. To learn more, see FEBS
Lett (2004) 564: 91-96.
Blood--United States
RNAlater can be used to protect RNA
in blood samples for any research or diagnostic test. One research
group has shown that this may be critical for maintaining gene
expression patterns in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).
When PBMCs were resuspended in RNAlater within 30 minutes
of collection, major changes in gene expression profiles related
to ex vivo stress response pathways or to RNA degradation were
reduced. To learn more, see Genes Immun (2004) 5:
347-353.
Environmental Bacteria--Netherlands Antilles
To study differential gene expression in bacterial
communities associated with coral black band disease (BBD), scuba-diving
scientists collected active BBD mat samples from infected coral
surfaces and BBD mat samples that had been moved 0.3 to 1 m from
the reef. Upon removal from the ocean, their samples were stabilized
in RNAlater for eventual RNA-arbitrarily primed PCR (RAP-PCR)
and RT-PCR analyses. These experiments are providing important
clues to the global problem of BBD migration as well as the infection
and destruction of coral reefs by BBD. To learn more, see Appl
Environ Microbiol (2004) 70: 3687-94.
Environmental Virus--
Laos People's Democratic Republic
To find ways of improving diagnostic testing
of classical swine fever (hog cholera), researchers simulated
collection and transport conditions in tropical ambient temperatures
for virus-positive spleen samples in RNAlater or a glycerol/saline
buffer. In both widely used diagnostic tests (RT-PCR and antigen-capture
ELISA), viral detection was more sensitive in samples preserved
with RNAlater. To learn more, see J Virol Methods (2004) 118:
33-7.
back
to top
|