Assessment and verification of commercially available pressure cookers for laboratory sterilization

Autor: Michael O. Gaylor, Nina M. Videau, Vaille Swenson, Loralyn M. Cozy, Blake Ushijima, Amanda D. Stacy, Patrick Videau, Benjamin Philmus
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
0301 basic medicine
Engineering
Research Facilities
030501 epidemiology
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Autoclave
Database and Informatics Methods
Fungal Reproduction
Contaminants
Medicine and Health Sciences
Materials
Fungal Pathogens
Spores
Bacterial
Alternative methods
Multidisciplinary
Waste management
Eukaryota
Equipment Sterilization
Medical Microbiology
Physical Sciences
Medicine
Engineering and Technology
Pathogens
Research Laboratories
0305 other medical science
Sequence Analysis
Research Article
Equipment Preparation
Bioinformatics
Science
Materials Science
Equipment
Mycology
Research and Analysis Methods
Gram-Positive Bacteria
Microbiology
03 medical and health sciences
Gram-Negative Bacteria
Pressure
Fungal Spores
Microbial Pathogens
business.industry
Organisms
Fungi
Biology and Life Sciences
Sterilization
Sterilization (microbiology)
Culture Media
030104 developmental biology
Equipment Contamination
Laboratories
business
Sequence Alignment
Zdroj: PLoS ONE
PLoS ONE, Vol 13, Iss 12, p e0208769 (2018)
ISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208769
Popis: Laboratory science requires careful maintenance of sterile reagents and tools as well as the sterilization of waste prior to disposal. However, steam autoclaves typically used for this purpose may not be readily accessible to everyone in the scientific community, such as K-12 teachers, researchers in the field, students in under-funded laboratories, or persons in the developing world who lack funding and resources. This work examines the use of commercial electric pressure cookers as an alternative method for the sterilization of media, instruments, and waste. Four commonly available brands of pressure cooker were tested for their ability to sterilize microbiological media, a variety of metal instruments, and high-titer microbial cultures. All four pressure cookers were able to sterilize these starting materials as well as a range of microbial types, including Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, filamentous fungi, unicellular fungi, and mixed environmental samples. Only the Instant Pot, however, was able to sterilize autoclave tester ampoules of Geobacillus stearothermophilus spores. These results suggest that, depending on the nature of the work undertaken, store-bought pressure cookers can be an appropriate substitute for commercial autoclaves. Their adoption may also help increase the accessibility of science to a broader range of investigators.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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