3 ms·
Oh God. There is a centrifuge to liquify mice?!
by codeisawesome 9y ago
Oh God. There is a centrifuge to liquify mice?!
- logfromblammo 9y agoYep. The animals are euthanized with CO2, placed in the device, and reduced to liquid in seconds. Obviously, this is not done when specific organs need to remain intact, but if you can do your measurements from homogenized whole animal, it saves a lot of time on rapid perfusion and dissection. Specialty devices exist, but a standard high-speed desktop centrifuge can also be used, as a mouse will generally fit into a 50 mL centrifuge tube. Generally best not to think about it too much if you like animals, but also like biochemical sciences. But if you're after a specific enzyme that would not be destroyed by rupture of the cell wall, whole-animal sacrifice by centrifuge is the cheap and easy way to get at it.
- mrguyorama 9y agoHow is... "homogenization" by centrifuge different than just using a blender or food processor?
- codeisawesome 9y agoI like the humorous way in which you put it, but oh, can’t help but imagine some higher creature talking about experimenting on us in a similar way /shudder