How to Use a Micropipette: A Comprehensive Micropipette Usage Guide

To use the micropipette properly, there are a few steps that need to be followed:

1. Set the desired volume of the micropipette.
2. To aspirate, Press and hold the plunger at the first stop.
3. Place the tip in the liquid vertically.
   Note: The angle should not exceed 20 degrees. With changing angle, the hydrostatic pressure inside the pipette tip varies. As a result, the aspirated volume will be inconsistent. It is best to immerse the pipette tips just below the surface (2-3 mm) of the liquid to allow the desired volume to be aspirated. Immersing the pipette tip too deeply increases the risk of liquid droplets sticking to the outside of the pipette tip.
4. Release the plunger slowly to draw up the liquid into the tip.
5. Pause, and then move the tip out from the liquid container carefully.
6. Insert the tip into the delivery vessel.
7. Make sure that the tip touches the inner wall of the vessel (it is recommended to tilt the tips at 45 degree for proper liquid release) and then press the plunger to the second stop.
8. Pause, and then take the tip out from the vessel.
9. Remove the tip with the help of the tip ejector when done with the experiment. For high precision, remember to change the tip frequently by ejecting into a waste container.

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• Pharmaceuticals: It assists in various pharmaceutical experiments ranging from sampling and analysis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), impurities, excipients and pharmaceutical solutions to pharmaceutical starting materials, including finished pharmaceutical products (FPP).
• Health Care: It is essential in healthcare divisions such as blood banks and pathology labs to prepare blood and plasma samples to initiate any kind of testing.
• Food & Beverage: It requires in Research, Production and Analysis & Quality Control of food and its related products – especially Beverages & Drinking Water, Milk & Dairy Products and Edible Fats & Oils.
• Environmental Monitoring: Helps in different kind of testing related to soil, water and pollution control.
• Academic & Research Institutes: Gives the easy lab access to students and reasearchers in various life sciences applications including Cell and Tissue Culture, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry and Stem Cell Research.
• Diagnostic Kits: Micropipettes empower your Diagnostic Kits by offering a sophisticated blend of mobility and accuracy in  pathogen detection, veterinary testing, meat speciation, fish speciation, GMO detection, allergen testing, etc.
• Life Sciences: Molecular biology research and related experiments like DNA RNA Purification, PCR, RT PCR, Primers & Probes, Cloning, Proteomics and Drug Discovery.

There are mainly two techniques of pipetting:

1. Forward pipetting technique: Forward pipetting is a technique for dispensing a precise amount of liquid by means of an air displacement pipette. The technique is primarily recommended for aqueous solutions, such as buffers, or dilute acids or alkalis.
2. Reverse pipetting technique: Reverse pipetting is a technique for dispensing a precise amount of liquid by means of an air displacement pipette. This technique is mainly used for solutions with high viscosity or a tendency to foam as it minimizes the risk of splashing, foam, or bubble formation. Reverse piping is more accurate in dispensing small amounts of liquids containing proteins and biological solutions.

Micropipettes are accessible in numerous designs and sizes. In any case, there are certain components that are basic and common to all the micropipettes. These are:

1. Plunger: It is mainly used to perform the two functions: Volume adjustment and Liquid aspiration/ dispensing
2. Tip Ejector: In order to allow the safe, effortless, and quick ejection of tips, micropipettes are provided with a tip ejector.
3. Volume Display: This shows the volume of the liquid to be aspirated or dispensed.
4. Tipcone: The tipcone provides fitment to the tips. A micropipette with a universal tipcone is recommended because it increases the instrument’s compatibility with most of the standard tips.
5. Gripy: It helps to support and hold the micropipette comfortably.

Micropipettes can be classified depending upon:

1. As per Working Principle

• Air Displacement Micropipette: In an air displacement pipette, a small air cushion exists between the piston and the liquid solution during the process. These kinds of pipettes are extremely precise for a wide range of piping applications.

• Positive Displace Micropipette: With a positive displacement pipette, a piston replaces the air cushion and glides along the inner edges of the capillary for easy pipetting of viscous, dense and surfactant liquids.

2. As per Operation Mechanism

• Mechanical Micropipette: These micropipettes are manually operated based on a piston-shaft spring mechanism.

• Electronic Micropipette: Electronic pipettes are more accurate than pipetting manually and mostly automated. Electronic pipettes remove the hand control one has over the pipette. The volume is set electronically, and with the push of a button, the plunger moves up and down electronically, leaving no room for human error.

3. As per number of Channels

• Single Channel Micropipette: A single channel micropipette is one that has a single channel to aspirate or dispense the liquid.

• Multi Channel Micropipette: A multi-channel micropipette has multiple channels to aspirate or dispense the liquid. It is commonly available in 8 channel, 12 channel and 16 channel variants.

4. As per Volume or Capacity

• Fixed Volume Micropipette: In a fixed volume micropipette, the volume of the liquid to be aspirated or dispensed remains constant. These micropipettes are used when the same amount of liquid has to be dispensed multiple times.
• Variable Volume Micropipette: This micropipette comes with a specific minimum and maximum volume range. The amount of liquid to be aspirated or dispensed can be adjusted (within the volume limit of the micropipette) based on the user’s requirement.

A micropipette is a common laboratory instrument used to measure small amounts of liquids with a volume range between 1 and 1000µl. A micropipette is also used to transfer a precise amount of fluid from one container to another. 

Micropipettes are generally used in microbiology,  chemistry, medical and soil testing laboratories for the precise transfer of different liquid samples. While the single channel micropipettes are used in labs that perform research related to molecular biology, microbiology, immunology, cell culture, analytical chemistry, biochemistry and genetics, the multichannel micropipettes are recommended for ELISA (diagnostic test), molecular screening, kinetic studies and DNA amplification.

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