Autoclaving plastic pipettes - is it right??? (Jul/10/2007 )
dom
Thank you dom very much. but PLZ i don't understand the previous sentence
what do u mean by strip and zero mark?????????????????
Best regards
strip - as in pull to pieces so you can clean inside it
zero mark - this kind of pippete tends to have a zero at the max and the min depending on which way you read it
0 5
1 4
2 3
3 2
4 1
5 0
-1
-2
it can also have a couple more marks if you want to do a ml or so more than is normal - this puts the liquid a little too close to the sucker
and may contaminate it without the cotton wool
(this sounds much better in my head but i hope you get the general idea)
dom
yes, you can use the glass ones, autoclave them and reuse them again many times.
don't forget to buy a canister to store your glass pipette after autoclave.
what do u mean by "Canister"??????????????
basically it is a metal cylinder with a tight metal cap. These containers can be autoclaved. The tight fit of the metal cap, prevents air/spores from getting in.
The container is used to hold the pipettes when autoclaving. The tight lid keeps the pipettes more or less sterile when you are using just one pipiette from the container.
Dear Jehane, please try to ask your questions more clearly. If you don't ask properly we can not help you. If you could tell the brand name or type or product number, it would be much easier for us.
Sorry, my bad. Did not read the second page. Now I see the picture 
If you pack them in sterile packaging, then it is not necessary to add cotton. Although a cotton plug will prevent you from sucking up some nasty solution into your pipetter.
putting a cotton plug will prevent sucking solution into pipettor. sucking solution (media) into pipettor will spoil the pipettor. also, when the liquid sucked into pipettor filter, bact/fungus will grow inside. so, with cotton plug, at least the solution will not go into pipettor directly.
also, please always check the filter inside your pipettor and if you notice the filter change colour (bact / fungus growth), change it before the contaminated pipettor caused further contamination to your cells/solution etc.
putting a cotton plug will prevent sucking solution into pipettor. sucking solution (media) into pipettor will spoil the pipettor. also, when the liquid sucked into pipettor filter, bact/fungus will grow inside. so, with cotton plug, at least the solution will not go into pipettor directly.
also, please always check the filter inside your pipettor and if you notice the filter change colour (bact / fungus growth), change it before the contaminated pipettor caused further contamination to your cells/solution etc.
If you have glass pipettes then yes they can be decontaminated, washed, replugged and then autoclaved (121oC for 20 minutes at 1 bar pressure). This is what happened in the 1940's- 1980's routinely by laboratory operatives adjacent to production/research areas. Nowadays everything is single use and plastic and is percieved to be cheaper.
Please note that the filters in pipettors should BE ROUTINELY changed REGULARLY. These should be 0.22uM filters AND NOT 0.45uM filters as supplied by some of the manufacturers. These filters are INTEGRAL to doing sterile work. In my labs they are changed on a weekly basis. They can be bought from the main manufacturers, I use IWAKI filters (made in Japan).... £35 for 50 filters