An Introduction to Pre-Filled Tubes & Plates and How to Use Them

What are Pre-filled Tubes?

In the world of scientific consumables, pre-filled tubes are highly common and increasingly polyonymous. You may hear them referred to as homogenization tubes, disruption tubes, lysis tubes, etc. Pre-Filled tubes are typically, 2 ml polypropylene tubes with a screw caps, a format compatible with most of today’s lab equipment. The tube itself comes in two variations: skirted (self-standing) or unskirted (conical bottom). Pre-filled plates can also be found in various well configurations, shapes, and sizes. These homogenization tubes or plates are commonly referred to as pre-filled because they are filled with grinding media or beads and balls before use, thus, making them pre-filled tubes or plates.

How are They Used?

Pre-filled tubes/plates are used to mechanically disrupt samples in preparation for extractions or downstream procedures. This process, referred to as homogenization or bead beating, works by agitating samples with grinding media (beads, balls, or satellites) to break open cell walls and release cell components.

Pre-filled vessels can extract a myriad of sample types, from the smallest microorganism (viruses, mycoplasma, phytoplasma) to the largest (mycelia), and everything in-between. Additionally, pre-filled tubes make it easier to disrupt a wide variety of tissue types that range from effortless (cell cultures) to achievable (heart, brain, and plant) to arduous (collagen-based samples like skin, sclera and keratin-based samples; hair and nail). 

Homogenization where the plate or tube only contains the sample and grinding media is referred to as dry grinding. Dry grinding can be made even more efficient by dipping the full vessel into liquid nitrogen and then homogenizing it. This is particularly effective for RNA isolations as keeping temperatures low is crucial for preparation. To make samples brittle, they can also be freeze-dried before dry grinding. This is commonly done with plant tissues. Alternatively, wet grinding utilizes the addition of a buffer in conjunction with the grinding media. This could be a lysis buffer (chemical lysis) or an isotonic solution.

While there are alternative lysis techniques, they may not be your best choice. Enzymatic lysis, for instance, can be practical for sensitive cells or molecules. But it’s slow, expensive, and won’t work for every application or sample. Bead beating, on the other hand, is easily executed with pre-filled tubes and plates, and it’s often required for large volumes or tough to disrupt samples like seeds or gram-positive microorganisms.

Grinding Media

Picking your grinding media is the most important decision when beginning your sample preparation. Pre-filled tubes/plates can be customized with media like zirconium silicate, silica, stainless steel, and garnet. Depending on the media composition, sizes range from 100 µm – 5 mm, allowing you to lyse a variety of samples from microorganisms, animal tissues, and plant tissues regardless of size.

Efficient lysis of each sample will require a different type of grinding media. For example, homogenizing mycelia would require 800 µm zirconium beads, whereas soil would need a mixed matrix of 100 µm silica, 400 µm zirconium, and a 4 mm silica bead. However, animal tissue like liver, brain, muscle, heart, or lung tissue would need 2.8 mm stainless steel balls.

It is important to consider the purity of the grinding media, the media can be contaminated with microorganisms, heavy metals, and more. Beads/balls should be cleaned and decontaminated prior to use. Using unprocessed beads (raw beads/balls) is poor practice and can introduce an astronomical number of impurities to your samples, leading to inconsistent results. In any industry, standardization and accuracy are key for a successful study or product. That’s why OPS Diagnostics treats their beads/balls before filling tubes. We have two grades: Acid washed and molecular biology grade. Both processes purify our beads/balls and remove contaminants before being sold or made into pre-filled tubes or plates.

How Do Prefilled Tubes and Plates Benefit You?

Pre-filled tubes and plates streamline workflows, reduce errors, and are quicker and less expensive than enzymatic lysis.

• Convenience: pre-filled tubes and plates eliminate the need for preparing and filling your own tubes and plates, saving you time and effort.
• Standardization: pre-filled tubes and plates standardize procedures, ensuring consistency.
• Accuracy: pre-filled tubes and plates are consistently filled with the correct volume of media, reducing errors.
• Protection: Pre-filled tubes can reduce the risk of contamination and sample to sample cross – contamination.

Do Prefilled Tubes and Plates Have Any Unique Applications?

Plant samples provide additional challenges when homogenizing as they contain polyphenols and polysaccharides that will contaminate your sample and affect downstream manipulations. These compounds should be removed early on in your sample preparation. OPS Diagnostics’ SYNERGY™ Homogenization prefilled tube acts as a reverse chromatography resin. During homogenization, all components of the sample are released. When centrifuged, the SYNERGY™ Homogenization tube resin binds the polyphenols and polysaccharides, removing them from your sample preparation.

Conclusion

To summarize when used properly with clean grinding media; pre-filled tubes standardize processes, save time, and generate accuracy and consistency. However, sample preparation with pre-filled tubes and plates requires a plethora of knowledge in all areas, from chemical composition and molecular biology to microbiology and every discipline in-between. For in-depth information regarding sample prep, feel free to contact us or visit our website.

References

“Bead Beating: A Primer.” OPS Diagnostics, opsdiagnostics.com/notes/ranpri/bbguide1.html. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.