Does high speed centrifugation destroy viable cells? - (Mar/30/2010 )

Hi all,

I want to collect viable probiotic cells (after pH treatment) from a dense soymilk product. This is the protocol i found from a paper to extract DNA from cells:

1) Samples were added with PBS and centrifuge at 700g for 1min to remove debris
2) Supernatant collected and centrifuged at 12,000g for 5mins
3) Pellet collected

My question is does the high speed (12,000g) destroy the cells?

Thanks

joanyee on Mar 30 2010, 08:03 PM said:

Hi all,

I want to collect viable probiotic cells (after pH treatment) from a dense soymilk product. This is the protocol i found from a paper to extract DNA from cells:

1) Samples were added with PBS and centrifuge at 700g for 1min to remove debris
2) Supernatant collected and centrifuged at 12,000g for 5mins
3) Pellet collected

My question is does the high speed (12,000g) destroy the cells?

Thanks

I presume you (the OP) mean prokaryotic cells as you talk about pro-biotic and soymilk, in which case bacteria will be fine, yeast and other fungi probably OK, other eukaryotes (e.g. human cell lines) will not be OK.