Hi all, I just noticed that my undergrad plate pourer left the 5 mg/ml cholesterol on the bench the weekend. I’d just made a big batch. Think that it’s ok to keep using the cholesterol, or best to just throw out and make a fresh solution.
Thanks!
I think your solution will be fine. Cholesterol is a very stable lipid.
Awesome, thanks Jenny. That was my guy feeling, but wanted to check first.
What do you mean by “left out”? I don’t think I’ve ever seen cholesterol stored other than at room temperature. Do you normally store it specially? In the fridge? Shielded from the light?
most people seem to store the stock solution either in the freezer or the refrigerator.
personally, i just add it to the media before autoclaving and i’ve never had a problem
(i know what cholesterol-starved worms look like)
Yeah, we routinely leave it at RT, shielded from light, with no apparent issues.
@Hillel-in both my PhD and postdoc lab we kept the stock cholesterol at -20. This stock was freshly made, but not shielded from light. Good to know that it’s probably fine. And thanks for the feedback lmu1 and Kevein
As far as I knew, it was always kept at RT. But we are careful to make sure it is well sealed: the cholesterol is in EtOH, after all. So we parafilm the bottle just to make sure.
Jordan, we always keep it at RT and have no problems.
@Imu1-we add filter-sterilized 5mg/ml cholesterol after autoclaving when the medium cools down to 55C.