Skip to Content
Merck
All Photos(5)

Key Documents

P1399

Sigma-Aldrich

Poly-L-lysine hydrobromide

suitable for cell culture, Mol wt 150,000-300,000

Sign Into View Organizational & Contract Pricing


About This Item

CAS Number:
MDL number:
UNSPSC Code:
12352209
eCl@ss:
32160406
PubChem Substance ID:
NACRES:
NA.26

product name

Poly-L-lysine hydrobromide, mol wt 150,000-300,000

form

solid

Quality Level

mol wt

150,000-300,000

technique(s)

cell culture | mammalian: suitable

impurities

<10% water (Karl Fischer)

color

white to off-white

solubility

water: 50 mg/mL, clear to slightly hazy, colorless to faintly yellow or pink

functional group

amine
carboxylic acid

storage temp.

−20°C

SMILES string

Cl.NCCCCC(N)C(O)=O

InChI

1S/C18H38N6O4/c19-10-4-1-7-13(22)16(25)23-14(8-2-5-11-20)17(26)24-15(18(27)28)9-3-6-12-21/h13-15H,1-12,19-22H2,(H,23,25)(H,24,26)(H,27,28)/t13-,14-,15-/m0/s1

InChI key

WBSCNDJQPKSPII-KKUMJFAQSA-N

Looking for similar products? Visit Product Comparison Guide

General description

Poly-L-lysine (PLL) is a versatile synthetic polymer derived from lysine. It serves as a positively charged, water-soluble polymer with applications in biology and biomedicine. One prominent role of PLL is in cell culture, where it′s applied to dishes and plates to enhance cell adhesion, particularly for cells with poor attachment capabilities. This is crucial for primary cells and certain cancer cell types. PLL′s positive charge forms a layer that attracts negatively charged molecules on cell surfaces, facilitating adhesion while minimizing cell toxicity compared to standard culture surfaces.Additionally, PLL finds utility in microscopy and neuroscience research. Coated substrates enable cells, tissues, and neurons to adhere to slides and culture dishes, facilitating detailed observations and prolonged studies. PLL eliminates the need for cell-damaging fixatives and allows extended cell and tissue culture. Beyond these applications, PLL is employed in immunochemistry to adhere tissues to slides for staining, drug delivery for encapsulating and delivering drugs, and gene therapy to transport genetic material to target cells. Overall, PLL is regarded as biocompatible, ensuring its safety in diverse biomedical applications and making it a valuable tool in biochemical and biomedical research.

Application

Poly-L-lysine polymers can be used in promoting cell adhesion to solid substrates, conjugation to methotrexate for increased drug transport, microencapsulation of islets, cell microencapsulation technology, microarray glass slide coating, and chromosomal preparations. Lower molecular weight poly-L-lysine (30,000-70,000) is less viscuous in solution, but higher molecular weight versions provide more attachment sites per molecule.

Biochem/physiol Actions

Poly-L-lysine is a nonspecific attachment factor for cells useful in promoting cell adhesion to solid substrates by enhancing electrostatic interaction between negatively charged ions of the cell membrane and the culture surface. When it is absorbed to the cell culture surface, poly-L-lysine functions to increase the number of positively charged sites available for cell binding. With cells that can digest poly-L-lysine, poly-D-lysine should be used as the attachment factor.

Features and Benefits

  • Suitable for Cell Culture and Biochemical research
  • High-quality compound suitable for multiple research applications

Components

Poly-L-lysine is a positively charged amino acid polymer with approximately one HBr per lysine residue. The hydrobromide allows the poly-L-lysine to be in a crystalline form soluble in water. A small amount of product may be found in the beta structure because the HBr interferes with hydrogen bonding between amino and either the carboxyl groups or N or O containing moieties.

Caution

Sterile solutions are stable for up to 2 years when stored at 2-8°C. It should be stored desiccated at -20°C.

Preparation Note

This product has a molecular weight of 150,000-300,000. To remove the HBr, dissolve this product in a neutral buffer and dialyze to remove the salts. None of the poly-L-lysine products have been exposed to trifluoroacetic acid and are dialyzed to remove any monomers, dimmers, or trimers, confirmed by thin layer chromatography. In general, to use this product as an attachment factor, add 50 mL of sterile tissue culture grade water to 5 mg of poly-lysine, and aseptically coat the surface with 1 mL per 25 cm2 of solution. After 5 minutes, remove the solution through aspiration and thoroughly rinse the surface. Let dry for two hours before introducing cells and medium.

Analysis Note

Molecular weight based on viscosity and is also assayed by MALLS.

Other Notes

For additional information on our range of Biochemicals, please complete this form.

Storage Class Code

11 - Combustible Solids

WGK

WGK 3

Flash Point(F)

Not applicable

Flash Point(C)

Not applicable

Personal Protective Equipment

dust mask type N95 (US), Eyeshields, Gloves

Certificates of Analysis (COA)

Search for Certificates of Analysis (COA) by entering the products Lot/Batch Number. Lot and Batch Numbers can be found on a product’s label following the words ‘Lot’ or ‘Batch’.

Already Own This Product?

Find documentation for the products that you have recently purchased in the Document Library.

Visit the Document Library

Andrea Corna et al.
Journal of neural engineering, 15(4), 045003-045003 (2018-05-03)
Retinal prostheses have shown promising results in restoring some visual perception to blind patients but successful identification of objects of different size remains a challenge. Here we investigated electrode-size specific stimulation thresholds and their variability for subretinal electrical stimulation. Our
Tsung-I Chen et al.
Journal of biomedical science, 21, 46-46 (2014-06-03)
Intermittent hypoxia (IH) plays a critical role in sleep breathing disorder-associated hippocampus impairments, including neurocognitive deficits, irreversible memory and learning impairments. IH-induced neuronal injury in the hippocampus may result from reduced precursor cell proliferation and the relative numbers of postmitotic
Lauren E Wool et al.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 39(40), 7893-7909 (2019-08-14)
In the trichromatic primate retina, the "midget" retinal ganglion cell is the classical substrate for red-green color signaling, with a circuitry that enables antagonistic responses between long (L)- and medium (M)-wavelength-sensitive cone inputs. Previous physiological studies showed that some OFF
Hong-Guang Ding et al.
Journal of neuroinflammation, 15(1), 4-4 (2018-01-07)
Cognitive impairment is one of common complications of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Increasing evidence suggests that interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) plays a role in inducing neuronal apoptosis in cognitive dysfunction. The lung protective ventilatory strategies, which serve to reduce pulmonary
Xiju He et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(23), E4582-E4591 (2017-05-21)
The injury phase after myocardial infarcts occurs during reperfusion and is a consequence of calcium release from internal stores combined with calcium entry, leading to cell death by apoptopic and necrotic processes. The mechanism(s) by which calcium enters cells has(ve)

Articles

Kanjiro Miyata (The University of Tokyo, Japan) provides insights on the rational design of polymeric materials for “smart” oligonucleotide delivery.

Humankind has utilized protein materials throughout its existence, starting with the use of materials such as wool and silk for warmth and protection from the elements and continuing with the use of recombinant DNA techniques to synthesize proteins with unique and useful properties.

Our team of scientists has experience in all areas of research including Life Science, Material Science, Chemical Synthesis, Chromatography, Analytical and many others.

Contact Technical Service