Today, sustainability in modern laboratories has become a concern for the research and industrial sectors to reduce its environmental impact. A popularly used solution in life sciences is phosphate-buffered saline. As it gains more popularity in molecular biology and pharmaceutical applications, one asks if PBS is green and how we can put it in our sustainable products.
What is Phosphate-Buffered Saline?
Phosphate buffer saline, or PBS, is essentially a salt solution in water, containing sodium chloride, potassium chloride, and sodium phosphate. It is designed to replicate the natural environment of human tissues and sustains the pH and osmotic balance necessary for biological research, especially when handling cells. PBS is an excellent solution in many cell culture protocols, such as the rinsing of cells, dilution of chemicals, and as a storage medium for biological materials. In cell culture, phosphate-buffered saline maintains the wellness of the cells by setting a stable environment for conducting experiments with cells. But because it is utilized on a daily basis in most cell culture laboratories, there are also some ecological issues to consider: how the waste from the usage and disposal of chemicals can affect the environment.
Environmental Impact due to the Use of PBS
● Massive Quantity of Usage
PBS is widely used for several applications, including various laboratory research, as well as pharmaceutical manufacturing plants, and even in different medical facilities. However, with the improper disposal of massive amounts of PBS used for these purposes, salinity can easily enter a water system and thus implicate aquatic life and their habitats.
● Use of One-Time Plastics in Lab Settings
PBS solutions are generally stored and used in plastic containers, which contributes to the global problem of single-use plastic waste. Pipettes, tubes, and plastic bottles used to handle PBS solutions are generally not biodegradable and can overwhelm the landfills if not taken care of properly.
● Consumption of Energy in Making
Energy is also involved in the manufacture and transportation of PBS, thus affecting its carbon footprint. Sources of raw materials for chemicals are not necessarily renewable resources.
How Can the Use of PBS Be Made Environmentally Friendly?
Even if not the most environmentally friendly, there are several ways that the lab can reduce the effects of the phosphate-buffered saline on the environment. The following are some of these ways:
● Reuse containers
Where possible, labs can sterilize and reuse PBS storage containers instead of disposing of them after a single use. Another way of decreasing plastic waste is by a shift to glass or recycled plastics for their containers.
● Green Waste Programs
Facilities can be constructed with green waste collection systems, such as salt precipitated from PBS waste before it's discharged into water bodies. Partnering with chemical waste management firms enables the facility to keep its duty of care under the law concerning environmental issues.
● Reduced Consumption
A concentrated PBS solution reduces plastic usage due to the packaging and shipping of the product. Such concentration solutions can be diluted within the laboratory location. As a result, further minimizing plastic waste occurs from transport and storage due to such liquid solutions.
Cleaner Laboratory With PBS in the Future
The use of phosphate-buffered saline in cell culture is essential. It can decidedly decrease its environmental footprint by incorporating sustainable practices. Recycling plastics, managing chemical waste, and sourcing materials from sustainable suppliers can easily find a balance between scientific progress and ecological responsibility. Conscious choice would be required by increasing the demand for more environmentally friendly research solutions. The possible inventions in green manufacturing and efficient waste management might not compromise the cell culture by phosphate-buffered saline to play a more critical role in the future. Purma Biologics is always concerned with scientific development and responsible utilization of resources. We can work together to ensure tools such as phosphate-buffered saline contribute to excellence in research and stewardship for the environment.
Risk factors for pancreatic cancer include alcohol toxicity and metabolic conditions such as obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
Furthermore, during ethanol‐induced cellular transformation, cells gained the phenotypes of cancer stem cells (CSC s) by expressing pluripotency maintaining factors (Oct4, Sox2, cM yc and KLF 4) and stem cell markers (CD 24, CD 44 and CD 133).
Suppression of SATB 2 expression in ethanol‐transformed HPNE cells inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation and markers of CSC s and pluripotency.
These data suggest that chronic alcohol consumption may contribute toward the development of pancreatic cancer by converting HPNE cells to cancer stem‐like cells.INTRODUCTIONPancreatic cancer has an exceptionally high mortality rate and is the fourth leading cause of cancer‐related death in the United States.1 With an overall 5‐year survival rate of 6%,2 pancreatic cancer has one of the poorest prognoses among all cancers.3 The incidence of pancreatic cancer varies significantly across regions, which suggests that several factors may be responsible for this deadly disease.4 The genetic, race, gender, environmental carcinogen, diet and lifestyle appears to be the primary factors for pancreatic cancer.5 Other factors such as smoking, alcohol, coffee consumption and exposure to organochlorine or hydrocarbon solvent have been associated with the frequency and spectrum of K‐ras mutation in pancreatic tumours.6–9 Metabolic conditions such as obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes are also the risk factors for pancreatic cancer.8, 10 About 5%‐10% of patients with pancreatic cancer have underlying germline mutations or disorders, whereas the remaining percentage of cancer cases may be because of somatic mutations.4Epidemiological data strongly suggest that the heavy alcohol drinking increases the risk for pancreatic cancer.11–14 A recent study has demonstrated that chronic alcohol intake promotes intestinal tumorigenesis and tumour invasion in genetically susceptible mice, increases in polyp‐associated mast cells, and mast‐cell‐mediated tumour migration in vitro,15 suggesting mast‐cell‐mediated inflammation could promote carcinogenesis.15 These data confirm that ethanol and its metabolites are the potential human carcinogen.
Enhanced chemiluminescence (ECL) Western blot detection reagents were purchased from Amersham Life Sciences Inc. (Arlington Heights, IL).Cell proliferation assayCells (1.5 × 104) were incubated for various time points in 1 mL of culture medium.
Cells were transduced with lentiviral particles expressing the gene of interest.Western blot analysisThe Western blot analysis was performed as we described earlier.23 In brief, cell lysates were subjected to SDS‐PAGE, and gels were blotted onto nitrocellulose membrane (Amersham Biosciences, Piscataway, NJ, USA).
