antibacterial agent

[Chuck Miller]

>My brother-in-law has been recommended to use sodium azide (NaN3) as an
>antibacterial agent in his antibody-storage-medium.
>What concentration should he use?
>Azide is rather nasty, could he use anything else?

Sodium azide is usually used in buffers, etc., at a concentration of 0.1 to
0.2% to prevent microbial growth. People use azide because it does not
react with antibodies, nucleic acids, and other biological probes. Other
anti-microbial agents may contain detergents or other compounds that are
detrimental to experiments--so choose alternatives carefully.

Best of results,

Chuck



Dr. Charles A. Miller, rellim at mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
Bionet.toxicology news group, http://www.bio.net/hypermail/TOXICOLOGY
Dept. Environmental Health Sciences, SL29
Center for Bioenvironmental Research
Tulane Univ. School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
1430 Tulane Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70112
(504)585-6942