Re: low melting point gel? **tech support response**

[Roy Edward-2]

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Dear Ekatarina,
You could try CyGEL / CyGEL Sustain.
This is a patented optically-clear thermo-reversible hydrogel that is a
liquid when cold and gel when warmed.
It is designed for the reversible immobilisation of motile / non-adherent
organisms and cells to allow high-performance imaging techniques. It has
been utilised for zebrafish embryos (Alvarez, 2009), parasites (Price,
2010) C elegans (Luke, 2014) and spheroids (Robertson, 2010).

CyGEL is formulated with PBS, though this will not be the tonicity of
sea-water.  
In which case, I suggest using CyGEL Sustain (the aqueous hydrogel
formulated for you to add your own salt solution or culture medium at a
high concentration - we would recommend a high concentration salt solution
to get it to sea-water¹s tonicity thereby avoiding unnecessary dilution of
the gel.

One vial of CyGEL Sustain is 500ul. Add 50 ul of 11X seawater, and up to a
further 50 ul (i.e. 10% v/v pro rata) of seawater containing your embryos.
 The kit (CS20500) contains 10 vials of 500 ul).

Although CyGEL/CyGEL Sustain has been designed to transition from liquid
to gel (and back) at 22 deg C you can ³force² the setting temperature
downwards with the addition of one the following, which won¹t
significantly affect the tonicity: up to 5% w/v sorbitol or polyethylene
glycol.  
However, it may be that the high concentration of NaCl in sea-water will
be sufficient to drive the gelling point down below 20 degC.

With a reduced sol:gel transition point you may find it most convenient to
do the work in the cold room.
It is helpful too flush pipette tips with ice-cold water prior to
pipetting (sea-water) CyGEL.

You can read a review article here: American Biotechnology Laboratory.
July/August Issue: p12-15
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isc/abl_20100708/index.php?startid=12

Full details on CyGEL / CyGEL Sustain can be found at: www.biostatus.com
<http://www.biostatus.com>

If you have further questions don¹t hesitate to contact me off-list.
Kind regards,
Roy

Roy Edward
roy(at)biostatus(dot)com

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>------------------------------
>
>Date:    Wed, 13 Aug 2014 14:16:48 +0200
>From:    Ekaterina PAPUSHEVA <[hidden email]>
>Subject: low melting point gel?
>
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>http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=3Dconfocalmicroscopy
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>
>Dear all,
>We are looking for a low melting point gel that could be used for
>mounting ascidian embryos; they can not stand temperatures above 20
>degrees of Celsius. LMP agarose solidifies at 25 degrees, so we can not
>use it...
>Does someone have an idea what could be used?
>Best ,
>Ekaterina
>------------------------------