Methods to prevent contamination in cell culture are as follows:
1. Before taking cells out of the incubator, clean your hands (or gloves) with alcohol, and try to shorten the door opening time and the number of times it is opened. . Before placing the culture bottle into the incubator, disinfect the surface with alcohol and wait until the alcohol evaporates before placing it in to avoid excessive ethanol vapor remaining in the incubator.
2. Protective clothing, masks, and gloves are indispensable during operation. Before operation, prepare all items required for the experiment to reduce movement. The items must be placed in an orderly manner on the clean bench within easy reach, while leaving enough space for operation.
3. During operation, do not try to cover the reagent in time and move it to the periphery of the operating area. Try not to pass over the open container.
4. When using a pipette gun, tilt the container to facilitate pipetting, and do not touch the pipe mouth or inner wall of the bottle. Once back-sucking occurs, wipe it with an alcohol cotton ball in time to prevent liquid residue from causing bacterial growth.
5. The lid of the cryopreservation tube must be tightened when freezing cells. When resuscitating cells, remove the cryovial from the liquid nitrogen tank and gently twist the cap to confirm whether the cap is tight.
Extended information:
1. Treatment methods for bacterially contaminated culture media. Corresponding antibiotics can be added to the culture medium. Tetracycline, gentamicin, or streptomycin can be used. The working concentration of the first two is 50 μg/mL; the working concentration of streptomycin is 100 μg/mL.
2. Treatment methods for mold-contaminated culture media. Once cells are contaminated by mold, it is difficult to save them. Neither amphotericin B nor nystatin will help. It is recommended to decisively discard the contaminated cells and thoroughly disinfect the environment.
Reference: China National Knowledge Infrastructure-Technical Measures to Prevent Cell Culture Contamination