With our pluriStrainers, we offer two different materials for a selection of mesh sizes - PET and nylon.

To help you decide which material is most suitable for your application, we have summarised the most important properties of the PET and nylon mesh below:

Both materials are suitable without restrictions if you are working with aqueous solutions or media in the physiological pH range (e.g. wash buffer, cell culture medium, PBS, HBSS, RBC lysis buffer).

If the cells, spheroids, tissue or other sample material are to be mechanically disrupted before flow through the pluriStrainer, the PET mesh should be chosen because of its higher strength and stability.

If you are planning a phenol-chloroform extraction on the pluriStrainer, we recommend the PET mesh (an incubation period of 15min showed no limitations for the quality of the DNA, RNA or proteins in our tests).

If you use acetone, the nylon mesh is recommended because of its better resistance.

Both materials have suitable stability against ethanol.

If you are working with more concentrated acids or bases, you should choose PET mesh for acids and nylon mesh for basic solutions.

Please note:

The information on stability is a guideline and does not exclude individual application. Material stability also depends on the duration of contact. A short contact with a chemical may have no effect even on a more sensitive mesh material, so that both PET and nylon can be considered for your application.

For the PET mesh, you have a wider range of mesh sizes available. Therefore, if the pore size of the pluriStrainer mesh is the relevant factor for you, you will usually find the right one for you in our pluriStrainers with PET mesh!

	PET		Nylon
Aqueous liquids in physiological pH ranges (e.g. wash buffer, cell culture media, PBS, HBSS, RBC Lysis Buffer)	✔	No restrictions known	✔	No restrictions known
Phenol-Chloroform (e.g. for DNA extraction on the strainer)	✔	Limited resistance but suitable for short-term contact (Tested for DNA, RNA and protein extraction for 15 min incubation time with proper results)	~	Limited resistance Not tested
Acetone resistance	~	Limited resistance Short-term contact is possible if necessary	✔	Good
Ethanol resistance	✔	Good	✔	Good
Acid resistance	✔	Good for most of solutions used in laboratory	~	Limited more restrictions on the solutions used in the laboratory
Alcaline resistance	~	Limited more restrictions on the solutions used in the laboratory	✔	Good for most of solutions used in laboratory
Mechanical disruption (e.g. grinding of cells, cell cluster, spheroids, tissue, plant material)	✔	Good Robust, stiff	~	Limited Soft, flexible
Maximum working temperature dry		150°C		115°C