New horizons in developing cell lysis methods: A review

Abstract

Cell lysis is an essential step in many studies related to biology and medicine. Based on the scale and medium that cell lysis is carried out, there are three main types of the cell lysis: (1) lysis of the cells in the surrounding environment, (2) lysis of the isolated or cultured cells, and (3) single cell lysis. Conventionally, several cell lysis methods have been developed, such as freeze-thawing, bead beating, incursion in liquid nitrogen, sonication, and enzymatic and chemical-based approaches. In recent years, various novel technologies have been employed to develop new methods of cell lysis. The aim of studies in this field is to introduce more precise and efficient tools or to reduce the costs of cell lysis procedures. Nanostructure-based lysis methods, acoustic oscillation, electrical current, irradiation, bacteria-mediated cell lysis, magnetic ionic liquids, bacteriophage genes, monolith columns, hydraulic forces, and steam explosion are some examples of newly developed cell lysis methods. Besides the significant advances in this field, there are still many challenges and tools must be further improved.

Keywords: cell lysis; membrane disruption; microfluidics; new methods.