title: A fast centrifuge method for nematocyst isolation from Pelagia noctiluca Forskal (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa).
abstract: Nematocyst isolation from surrounding tissue is an important step to characterize Cnidarian venom. Although several protocols have been used to extract venoms from cnidarian tissues, the complete isolation of nematocysts from tissue is still difficult. The goal of the present work was to evaluate the effectiveness of three different media, Percoll, Ficoll and Methylcellulose in isolating nematocysts from Pelagia noctiluca tentacles by centrifugation. The complete sedimentation of nematocysts and tissue fragments to the bottom of the test tubes was observed in Ficoll and Methylcellulose suspensions. The best result was obtained using a discontinuous density gradient of Percoll: three types of nematocysts were concentrated in three different fractions along the density gradient. Protein assay and preliminary chromatographic analyses confirmed these results.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, Università di Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Marchini
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Nuccio
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mazzei
authors.forename: Gian Luigi
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Mariottini
mesh_terms: D000825:Animal Structures / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D002458:Cell Fractionation / Q000379:methods; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods; D002499:Centrifugation, Density Gradient / Q000379:methods*; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D003064:Cnidarian Venoms / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005362:Ficoll; D008747:Methylcellulose; D011205:Povidone; D037401:Scyphozoa / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D003064:Cnidarian Venoms; D005362:Ficoll; C016039:Percoll; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D008747:Methylcellulose; D011205:Povidone