Homogenize tough samples using this yttria stabilized zirconia media with its superior fracture toughness and wear resistance – ideal for higher energy mills or recirculation homogenization applications.
For Bacteria, use 0.1mm glass beads or zirconia/silica beads; when working with Yeast/Fungi and most tissue samples use 1.0 mm glass beads; for tough fibrous tissues like Skin or “soft” plant material pre-chopping is suggested prior to beadbeating.
Glas
MSE PRO brand 0.1 mm zirconia beads are the preferred medium for homogenizing bacteria, yeasts and soft tissue samples in laboratory bead beaters. Their high fracture toughness reduces particle contamination caused by abrasion during homogenization; furthermore their higher density allows shorter grinding times than low-density glass or alumina milling media.
These glass beads have been acid washed and heat treated to remove contaminants and render them nuclease and protease free, making them suitable for use with most standard screw capped 2 ml micro tubes.
As part of DNA extraction procedures, fecal swabs were aseptically placed into two-ml screw capped tubes and mixed with 0.25 grams of sterile zirconia beads from BioSpec Products of Bartlesville Oklahoma as well as one milliliter of lysis buffer from Qiagen Fecal DNA Stool Mini Kit before being placed through three cycles of bead beating using a mixer mill.
Beadbeating produces smaller fragments of Garnet beads (an iron-aluminum silicate). While this helps accelerate tissue and sample lysis, their sharp edged particles may leave behind yellow-gray color that cannot always be removed with high g-force centrifugation. To reduce their impact, start beadbeating with microvials half filled with Garnet beads as the process.
Zirkonia/Silica
These beads are the most frequently employed in beadbeating. Quality commercial brands usually undergo alcohol washing and heat treating processes to eliminate contaminants as well as render them nuclease and protease free, before having a density of 2.5 g/cc to ensure maximum compatibility for bacteria as well as some yeast samples.
ZirPro manufactures this high quality ceramic bead medium using advanced yttria stabilized zirconia powder and manufactured to tight specifications in house by ZirPro. The resultant media boasts superior physical characteristics to standard glass and zirconia beads making it suitable for high energy mills; additionally it remains chemically inert while resisting fragmentation.
One potential drawback of using Garnet beads as beadbeater beads is their tendency to produce homogenates with an undesirable brown-gray hue that needs centrifugation or filtration to be fully clear. Garnet particles (an iron-aluminum silicate sharp particle with density 4.1g/cc), like SiC sharp particles, have sharp edges which accelerate tissue lysis while fragmenting during beadbeating into smaller fragments which effectively disrupt bacteria and other microorganisms.
One user reported to us that whole organs cut into 1 mm cross-section pieces were lysed in 2 minutes with a MiniBeadBeater using 1 mm Garnet beads without prechopping; making the process significantly more efficient while decreasing labor and time requirements.
Rustfrit stål
For tough tissue samples such as hard tissues, spores or molds that require rapid disruption at high speed, try our Stainless Steel beads. They are denser than Zirconia/Silica or Glass and provide better sample disruption at higher shear energies while remaining less expensive and inert in most solutions. However, they can leave behind an unpleasant “dirty” color in homogenate which may require high G force centrifugation or filtration to remove.
BioSpec’s stainless steel beads come in two formats, acid washed and Molecular Biology Grade, both certified DNase, RNase and Protease-free. Unwashed beads should always be acid washed prior to use while our Molecular Biology Grade beads can maintain ultra low temperatures during homogenization processes. If using a Mini-Beadbeater our 2ml screw capped microvials should be used instead to prevent cracking during high shaking energies used when beadbeating; we also offer solid aluminum vial holders designed specifically to accommodate it for Mini Beadbeadbeater use that ensures consistent temperatures during homogenization processes ensuring smooth homogenization processes.
Some samples require a variety of beads for efficient homogenization. Our prefilled tubes offer just that with a mixture of silica, zirconia/silica, and stainless Steel beads in varying ratios – available as 50 prefilled 2ml tubes and 5ml tubes with screw caps that don’t skirt and will fit most bead homogenizers; loose bulk beads are also available.
Chrome Steel
Stainless steel and chrome-steel beads are often employed for dry grinding of seeds, leaves or other hard plant material. These heavy beads are placed into special reinforced 2-ml polypropylene microvials or Stainless Steel screw-cap micro vials (not ordinary plastic screw-cap micro vials which could crack or leak with large amounts of steel), with their higher specific gravity increasing grinding effect while decreasing power consumption and equipment wear and tear; however these heavy beads could rust when in contact with aqueous media.
Yttria stabilized zirconia (Y-TZP) beads feature higher densities than glass or styrofoam beads and are chemically inert for less contamination of samples during homogenization. They offer excellent fracture toughness and wear resistance for attrition milling which requires large impact forces on beads and sample. Furthermore, these beads have proven themselves as being excellent at decreasing self-consumption rates in high energy mills, increasing throughput and productivity.
Y-TZP beads are RNase free and come prefilled into 2 and 7 milliliter vials that fit standard bead homogenizers, ready for use. Made of high grade yttria stabilized zirconia precursors that have been chemically co-precipitated into extremely fine particle size range, tests have revealed they outshone Ceria Stabilized Zirconia media by 15% in terms of wear rate; therefore used by pharmaceutical and biotech companies, university research labs, hospitals, and other laboratories alike.
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