A homogenizer is a piece of laboratory or industrial equipment used for the

homogenization Homogeneity is a sameness of constituent structure. Homogeneity, homogeneous, or homogenization may also refer to: In mathematics *Transcendental law of homogeneity of Leibniz * Homogeneous space for a Lie group G, or more general transformatio ...

of various types of material, such as tissue, plant, food, soil, and many others. Many different models have been developed using various physical technologies for disruption. The

mortar and pestle Mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used from the Stone Age to the present day to prepare ingredients or substances by crushing and grinding them into a fine paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. The ''mortar'' ( ...

, already used for thousands of years, is a standard tool even in modern laboratories. More modern solutions are based on

blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...

type instruments, bead mills,

ultrasonic Ultrasound is sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hear it. This limit varies fr ...

treatment (also

sonication A sonicator at the Weizmann Institute of Science during sonicationSonication is the act of applying sound energy to agitate particles in a sample, for various purposes such as the extraction of multiple compounds from plants, microalgae and seawe ...

), rotor-stator mechanical, high pressure, and many other physical forces. While there are many application overlaps between methods, each homogenization method has distinct advantages and disadvantages. PRO Scientific Rotor Stator disperser homogenizer

PRO Scientific Rotor Stator disperser homogenizer

There are often many different names for the same piece of mechanical homogenizing equipment, including Cell Lysor, Disperser, High Shear Mixer, Homogenizer, Polytron, Rotor Stator Homogenizer, Sonicator or Tissue Tearor. Cell fractionation is done by homogenizer to release the organelles from cell. Whereas older technologies just focused on the disruption of the material, newer technologies also address quality or environmental aspects, such as cross-contamination, aerosols, risk of infection, or noise. Homogenization is a very common sample preparation step prior to the analysis of

nucleic acids Nucleic acids are biopolymers, macromolecules, essential to all known forms of life. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomers made of three components: a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. The two main cl ...

proteins Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

, cells,

metabolism Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run ...

pathogens In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a ger ...

, and many other targets.

Frosted glass slides

As a simple alternative for

, frosted glass slides are used for homogenizing small and soft tissue specimens. Tissue specimen is homogenized in a small volume of appropriate buffer between corner areas of two frosted glass slides by circular movement; then homogenate is collected by a pipette.

Frosted glass slides

See also