Cell fractionation is a laboratory technique used to separate the components of a cell. It is used to isolate and study the different organelles and other macromolecules found in cells.
The technique involves breaking down a cell into its components of the cytosol, using a variety of techniques such as centrifugation, filtration, and sedimentation., such as the nucleus, mitochondria, chloroplast, golgi bodies, ribosomes, lysosomes, and other organelles, in order to study them in isolation.
Cell fractionation can be used to purify these organelles or macromolecules for further study or to characterize them. It can also be used to study the interactions between different organelles and molecules in cells.
This is widely used in research and biotechnology applications to isolate and purify specific cellular components. This is also helpful in studying the structure and function of different parts of the cell as well as studying the interactions between them.
Steps
- Homogenization
- Filtration
- Centrifugation
- Collection
The phenomenon of centrifugation has played a significant role in cell fractionation. The cells or tissues are ground up, homogenized in sucrose solution, and then centrifuged.
The successive centrifugation of the resulting homogenate produces fractions depending upon their weight and size.
This method of separating the cellular components by centrifugation is called differential centrifugation.