Question: how do you burst cells?

Joanna Giles answered on 12 Nov 2012:

Hi!

It depends what cell I’m bursting!

When I am purifying DNA I use a detergent to burst white cells in the blood. Red blood cells do not have a nucleus and so when I purify DNA I need to use the white blood cells from a donor blood sample. The detergent breaks the bonds that hold a cell’s plasma membrane together so that the shape of the cell is all broken apart.

I also do some experiments with red blood cells. These are a lot easier to burst as they have a much more simple membrane. Simply putting red blood cells into water bursts them by Osmosis. The water rushes across the plasma membrane from a high water potential to a low water potential until so much water is inside the cell that the membrane bursts! The solution will become all red because of a chemical called haemoglobin that will be in the solution.