What solvent should i use to dissolve a herbal extract - difficulty in dissolving lyophilised herbal extract for use in culture (Jul/07/2008 )
Hi. I am currently trying to find a suitable solvent to dissolve a powdered herbal extract that i've purchased recently. i've tried methanol, DMSO, ethanol, acetone and water but none of the solvent can completely dissolve the powder. I need to dissolve the extract so that i can add it to my cell culture but since it cannot be completely dissolved, i am having difficulty in determining the concentration. The extract contains a mixture of many different extracts including egg yolk, mushroom, plant extracts. i would really appreaciate it if anyone can give me any idea or suggestions on how i can dissolve the powder or another way of determining the concentration? Thank you so much.
Since you have egg yolk in it , you need something to dissolve all the protein. sometime back i used red mushroom for treating my cells and PBS worked well. I think your problem is due to the egg yolk , try to look for something in which it can dissovle.
With all that stuff - I don't see that determining the concentration beyond total weight to volume of suspended material is reasonable. What effect are you trying to observe?
Hi i am trying to see the immunomodulatory effect. They claimed that it can boost the immune cells especially Natural killer cells.
This may seem like a silly question but have you done either of the following?
1: warm the solution (not boil)
2: making it acidic to dissolve the contents and then adjusting the pH back to neutral afterwards...
I'm thinking of Formaldehyde...
you really have to warm it to 59 - 60 degrees C but NOT over...at all...
AND you have to lower the pH before it completely dissolves... THEN you adjust it back to neutral and it stays dissolved...
You may have a situation like that... But trying to dissolves those things that are both organic and inorganic can be a bear...for now, that's the first/best suggestion that comes to mind.
I hope it helps
Think doc T is talking about paraformaldehyde - not formaldehyde.
Elly - tell us more - what cells and what specific immune-relevant parameter will you measure? I'd be careful of too much treatment of this material - as you'll probably modify it chemically or physically in a manner that may remove reality of real life application. If this is being done in an oral consumption context, consider how it might be modified accordingly in terms of making "actives" available (stomach pH, etc).