Two questions related to Qiagen RNEasy FFPE Kit - (May/21/2011 )

Hello :-)

Here are my questions:

1. The abbreviation RBC buffer mean Red Blood Cells buffer, right? Why do we use it? I know that due to some pH changes it promotes retain of RNA only on the gDNA Eliminator spin column, but it that correct? Why it is called RBC then?

2. What does mean the abbreviation RPE and why do we use this buffer? For me it sound like RNA Precipitating Elution Buffer - it keeps the RNA precipitated on the RNEasy spin column but allows discard of the chemical contaminants, and then we elute the pure (more or less) RNA in RNAse free water. Is that correct?

I will appreciate any answer.

RBC buffer is hardly Red Blood Cells buffer. It contains guanidine salts that help binding of RNA to the column. RPE is some sort of ethanol elution buffer that allows the removal of chaotropic salts from the sample.
Those are not really abbreviations, just company labels different for each buffer they have. It does not say what's inside and that's the point, though they disclose composition of some common buffers and the principle is usually well-known so you can guess what buffer contains what, the detailed composition is often proprietary.