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Cell Disruption- Definition, Methods, Types, Significance
October 10, 2021 by Sagar Aryal
Edited By: Sagar Aryal

Cell disruption is the process of obtaining intracellular fluid via methods that open
the cell wall.
The overall goal in cell disruption is to obtain the intracellular fluid without
disrupting any of its components.
The method used may vary depending on the type of cell and its cell wall
composition.
Irrespective of the method used, the main aim is that the disruption must be
effective and the method should not be too harsh so that the product recovered
remains in its active form.
Cell disruption methods can be categorised into mechanical methods and non-
mechanical methods.
Mechanical methods are divided into solid shear methods and liquid shear
methods.
Non-mechanical methods can be divided into physical methods, chemical
methods and enzymatic methods.
 Image Source: Ronald Halim et al. 2012 (
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0734975012000031)

Table of Contents
Mechanical Methods of Cell Disruption
Mortar & Pestle
Blenders
Bead beating
Ultrasonication
Homogenization
Non-Mechanical Methods of Cell Disruption
A. Physical methods
1. Freeze-Thaw
2. Microwave/ Thermolysis
3. Osmotic Shock
4. Electric Discharges
B. Chemical methods
C. Enzymatic methods
Significance of Cell Disruption
References
Interesting Science Videos
Mechanical Methods of Cell Disruption
Mechanical methods are those methods that required some sort of force to separate
out intracellular protein without adding chemical or enzyme
1. Mortar & pastel/grinding
2. Blender
3. Bead beating
4. Ultra sonication
5. Homogenization
Mortar & Pestle
It involves the grinding of the cells such that they are disrupted.
This does not have to be in suspension and is often done with plant samples
frozen in liquid nitrogen.
When the material has been disrupted, metabolites can be extracted by adding
solvents.
Blenders
The use of blenders which employ high speed can be used to disrupt cell walls.
It is the same process used by centrifugation, which separates or concentrates
materials suspended in a liquid medium.
Bead beating
Glass or ceramic beads are used to crack open cells
The kind of mechanical shear is gentle enough to keep organelles intact.
It can be used with all kinds of cells, just add beads to an equal amount of cell
suspension and vortex.
Ultrasonication
Ultrasonic homogenizers work by inducing vibration in a titanium probe that is
immersed in the cell solution.
A process called cavitation occurs, in which tiny bubbles are formed and explode,
producing a local shockwave and disrupting cell walls by pressure change.
This method is very popular for disruption of plant and fungal cells.
Homogenization
 Liquid-based homogenization is the most widely used cell disruption technique for
small volumes and cultured cells.
Cells are lysed by forcing the cell or tissue suspension through a narrow space
Homogenizers use shearing forces on the cell similar to the bead method.
Homogenization can be performed by squeezing cells through a tube that is
slightly smaller than beads beating.
Non-Mechanical Methods of Cell Disruption
Nonmechanical methods are further divided into three classes which are following :
A. Physical methods
1. Freeze-Thaw
It is suitable when working with soft plant material and algae.
Disruption is achieved via a series of freezing and thawing cycles.
Freezing forms ice crystals, which expand upon thawing, and this ultimately
causes the cell wall to rupture.
2. Microwave/ Thermolysis
Microwave (along with autoclave and other high temperature methods) are used
to disrupt the bonds within cell walls, and also to denature proteins.
However, uncontrolled amount of heat can easily denature or damage target
proteins and subtances.
3. Osmotic Shock
Through the process of osmosis, water can be moved into the cell causing its
volume to increase to the point that it bursts.
The method however, can only work with animal cells and protozoa, since they do
not have cell walls.
4. Electric Discharges
It is also possible to achieve cell disruption via electrical discharges in mammalian
and other cells that are bounded by plasma membranes only.
B. Chemical methods
 They are often used with plant cells (and sometimes in combination with
shearing).
Organic solvents such as toluene, ether, benzene, methanol, surfactants, and
phenyl ethyl alcohol DMSO can be used to permeate cell walls.
EDTA can be used specifically to disrupt the cell walls of gram negative bacteria,
whose cell walls contain lipopolysaccharides that are stabilized by cations like
Mg2+ and Ca2+.
EDTA will chelate the cations leaving holes in the cell walls.
C. Enzymatic methods
Another strategy to achieve cell lysis is to use digestive enzymes which will
decompose the microbial cell wall.
Different cell types and strains have different kind of cell walls and membranes,
and thus the used enzyme depends on microbe. For example, lysozyme is
commonly used enzyme to digest cell wall of gram positive bacteria. Lysozyme
hydrolyzes β-1-4-glucosidic bonds in the peptidoglycan.
The cell wall of yeast and fungi differs significantly from the cell wall bacteria. One
commonly used enzyme mixture for degradation of cell wall of yeast and fungi is
Zymolyase.
It has for example β-1,3 glucanase and β-1,3-glucan laminaripentao-hydrolase
activities (Zymolyase | Yeast lytic enzyme).
In addition, the enzymes that are commonly used for degradation of cell wall of
yeast and fungi include different cellulases, pectinases, xylanases and chitinases.
Enzymes such as beta(1-6) and beta(1-3) glycanases, proteases and mannase
can also be used to disrupt the cell wall.
Significance of Cell Disruption
Cell disruption is an essential part of biotechnology and the downstream
processes related to the manufacturing of biological products.
It is necessary for the extraction and retrieval of the desired products, as cell
disruption significantly enhances the recovery of biological products.
References
1. Wilson, K., Walker, J. (2018). Principles and Techniques of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology (8 eds.). Cambridge University Press: New York.
2. file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/Cell%20disruption%20methods.pdf
3. https://www.slideshare.net/sabanaeem1/cell-disruption
4. Chisti Y., Moo-Young M. (1986); Disruption of microbial cells for intracellular
products; Enzyme Microb. Technol., vol. 8, April; doi: 0141 –0229/86/040194–11.
About Author

Sagar Aryal
Sagar Aryal is a microbiologist and a scientific blogger. He is doing his Ph.D. at
the Central Department of Microbiology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
He was awarded the DAAD Research Grant to conduct part of his Ph.D. research
work for two years (2019-2021) at Helmholtz-Institute for Pharmaceutical
Research Saarland (HIPS), Saarbrucken, Germany. Sagar is interested in research
on actinobacteria, myxobacteria, and natural products. He is the Research Head
of the Department of Natural Products, Kathmandu Research Institute for
Biological Sciences (KRIBS), Lalitpur, Nepal. Sagar has more than ten years of
experience in blogging, content writing, and SEO. Sagar was awarded the SfAM
Communications Award 2015: Professional Communicator Category from the
Society for Applied Microbiology (Now: Applied Microbiology International),
Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK). Sagar is also the ASM Young Ambassador to
Nepal for the American Society for Microbiology since 2023 onwards.

1 thought on “Cell Disruption- Definition, Methods, Types, Significance”

CHARMAINE TANATSWA
September 14, 2023 at 8:45 PM
 Very well reseached articles and informative
Reply

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