Hi all,
My lab is currently setting up a pressurized microinjection system that uses a tank of pressurized gas to pressurize the system. However, we are uncertain as to which gas (nitrogen of pressurized air) we should use in this setup and would like some advice on what will work best for us.
Thank you in advance for your advice.
-Emma
Either should work. When you are micro injecting your organism, the pressure is being used to push fluid (e.g., DNA) into the gonad. The air itself should not enter the worm. That being said, nitrogen is inert and should not hurt the worm - air is mostly nitrogen. I have used both sources of pressure without difficulty (in different injection set-ups). Whatever the makers of the microinjection system suggest and whatever is available should be fine.
Thank you so much for your advice! I greatly appreciate it.
Hi, I also have a question about nitrogen, does the purity of the gas really matter? I mean, is there any difference between 99.99% or 99.5% nitrogen? Thanks!
As long as it is not toxic, the purity should not matter.
We use the house compressed air (78% N2), and it works fine. 99.5% should be great.