Cell Disrupter Selection Table

Equipment	Animal Tissue	Plant Tissue	Yeast & Fungi	Bacteria	Disrupt Time^b	Relative Cost^c	Requires Cooling?^d	Requires Prechop?	Scale-up Available?
SoniBeast Mini-BeadBeater-Plus Mini-BeadBeater-16 Mini-BeadBeater-24 ULTRA Mini-BeadBeater-96	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	3	2 or 3	Yes	Yes	Yes
BeadBeater	-	-	Excellent	Excellent	3	2	Yes	-	Yes
Tissue-Tearor BioHomogenizer	Excellent	Excellent	-	-	<1	2	No	Yes	Yes
Hamilton Beach Blenders	Good	Good	-	-	1 or 2	2	No	No	Yes
Cryo-Cup Mortar & Pestle SpiralPestle & MicroTube	Excellent	Excellent	Moderate	Moderate	1	1	No	Yes	No
Tissue Grinder	Excellent	Excellent	-	-	5	2	No	Yes	No
MicroMincer^a Lever Tissue Press^a Screw Tissue Press^a	Excellent	Excellent	-	-	1	1 or 2	No	No	No
BioPulverizer^a MicroCryoCrusher^a	Excellent	Excellent	-	-	0.1	2	No	No	No

Table Key

(a) Fragments tissue samples but usually does not disrupt cells. Often used as a preliminary step to cell lysis.
(b) Typical time, in minutes, for 90 percent cell disruption. For dry or cryo-milling, grinding times are less than 30 seconds.
(c) Purchase price range:

$10 - $100
$100 - $1000
$1000 and up

(d) DNA or RNA beadbeating in the presence of nucleic acid extraction media is an exception. The same applies to proteins extracted in media containing SDS detergent.