Filtration is a technique used to clean fluids of contaminants and particulates. The goal is to produce a sterile filtrate, which is thought to require filtering through a 0.2 m pore size. Volumes of filtering solutions can range from a few millilitres to many litres. Media with or without serum, buffers, biologic or proteinaceous samples, reagents, and other fluids that need to be free of particle or microbiological contamination are examples of typical fluids.
A filter with a pore size of 0.2 m and the ability to retain at least 107 cfu/cm2 of B. dimunita is regarded as being acceptable for producing Sterile Filtration.
In order to guarantee a sterile filtrate for delicate cell culture applications, it should be highlighted that some samples may benefit from 0.1 m pore size filtering (see mycoplasma reduction). There are numerous applications for sterile filtering.
Media for cell culture growth that either contains or does not contain serum
Other substances or mixtures that contain delicate elements and could deteriorate at autoclave temperatures
Inability to use an autoclave
