What are serological pipettes?
Serological Pipettes, also known as
stripette serological pipets, are mainly used to measure a certain volume of liquid accurately and must be used together with a suitable pipette to automate work and improve efficiency.
A pipette is a measuring device used to accurately dispense a certain volume of solution. It is a measure-out instrument that is used only to measure the volume of solution it puts out, which allows it to transfer liquids measured in volume by ml. Most have a scale on the side for measuring the liquid being dispensed or aspirated. An important step when culturing or plating cells is uniform distribution throughout the solution.
Reusable serological pipets are usually long, thin glass tubes with an enlarged middle section. Its lower end is pointed and the upper end has a marker line engraved on the neck of the tube, which is the marker of the exact volume being pipetted.
Disposable serological pipette is made of transparent polymer polystyrene (GPPS) and is mainly used for measuring a certain volume of liquid and vacuum suction. It is widely used in the field of tissue culture, bacteriology, clinical, research, and experiments. The tube tip or nozzle is connected to the tube body by ultrasonic welding, which can reduce the adhesion of liquid to the tube wall and improve the sampling accuracy (
long plastic serological pipettes).
Serological pipettes are sterile instruments that allow for accurate fluid dispensing while reducing the chance of contamination.

Types of serological pipettes
There are two different materials for making serological pipettes. They are
plastic serological pipettes and
glass serological pipettes. Among
all serological pipettes, for safety and hygiene reasons, it is best to use disposable polystyrene plastic serological pipettes.
Serological pipettes come in three different categories:
a. Open-End Pipettes
Open-ended pipettes have an exposed end and are best suited for measuring highly viscous liquids. The pipette's fast fill and release speed make it ideal for handling liquids such as oils, paints, cosmetics, and sludges.
This pipette is also equipped with a fiber filter plug that helps reduce liquid contamination. Open-ended pipettes are non-pyrogenic pipettes that are sterilized by gamma irradiation. They are individually packaged in thermoformed paper/plastic to prevent damage.
1 ml serological pipette,
2 ml serological pipette,
5 ml serological pipette, and
10ml serological pipets are available for this kind of pipette. In the meantime, they are also required to meet ASTM E1380 industry standards.
b. Bacteriological Pipettes
Bacteriological pipettes are specifically designed for the examination of milk and other dairy products. These polystyrene milk pipettes are available in 1.1 ml and 2.2 ml sizes. These pipettes are non-pyrogenic and single-use. They can be sterilized using gamma radiation, but should not be placed in an oven to prevent deformation. They are packaged in thermoformed paper/plastic to avoid damage. These pipettes include a fiber filter that prevents contamination of fluid and liquid samples. Bacteriological pipettes are required to meet ASTM E934 standards and are calibrated for +/-2% delivery (TD).
c. Aspirating Pipettes
Aspirating pipettes are completely transparent and have no graduations. They are specifically designed to transfer and mix liquids in different applications, such as vacuum or pipette aspiration processes. They are single-use, non-pyrogenic, non-plug-in polystyrene pipettes.
These pipettes are wrapped in thermoformed plastic to avoid contamination. They are sterilized using gamma radiation and meet the Sterility Assurance Level (SAL).
Features of serological pipettes
As a laboratory disposable instrument, the sero pipette has the characteristics as follows:
a. Transparency
Serological pipettes are generally made from polystyrene (PS). This material has excellent transparency and is lightweight and unbreakable. Tubes made of this material are easy to transport and can also be cleared to see the exact volume of the solution through the body of the tube.
b. Variety of specifications
The following are different serological pipette sizes, you can choose the appropriate size according to your experimental needs.
Sizes of serological pipette |
0.1 ml serological pipette |
0.2 ml serological pipette |
1 ml serological pipette |
2 ml serological pipette |
5 ml serological pipette |
10 ml serological pipette |
25 ml serological pipette |
50 ml serological pipette |
100 ml serological pipette |
c. Graduated serological pipette
Accurate scale on the outer wall of the tube for easy observation and reading. Positive and negative scales are designed to facilitate the operation of adding and subtracting samples. Especially, negative scales are designed to provide certain additional sampling capacity.
d. Sterile serological pipettes
As mentioned, serological pipettes are widely used in tissue culture, bacteriology, and clinical and research experiments that require aseptic manipulation to transfer liquids. To ensure the sterility of the liquid, serological pipettes must also be sterilized to be pyrogen-free, endotoxin-free, and cytotoxicity-free.
e. Serological pipette filter
Serological pipettes are usually fitted with tips containing disposable filters. The most important function of these filters is to prevent cross-contamination during use.
f. Color marking
In addition to the different precision scale markings on the tube body, to better distinguish the specifications of different products, the end of the tube is marked with different color rings for different capacity specifications, which is more convenient for identification and use at work. Different color labels correspond to different pipette sizes for easy identification.
g. Other features
* Each pipette size is supplied with a cartridge filter plug.
* All pipettes are packaged in gamma sterile bags.
* No heat source, no DNA enzyme, no RNA enzyme.
Use of serological pipettes
Serological pipettes are commonly used for mixing suspensions, combining reagents and chemical solutions, transferring cells for empirical analysis or expansion, layering reagents for creating higher density gradients, etc. Serological pipettes are ideal for applications involving tissue cultures, such as urinalysis, immunology, hematology, and blood banking, because their low-affinity surfaces reduce the loss of sample, protein, or cell. These serum pipettes have the potential to meet the requirements for several drops per milliliter, pipette volume, ball aspiration, or length in different experiments.
Serological pipettes are used in the laboratory to transfer liquids. These pipettes are graduated on the side to help measure the liquid to be dispensed or aspirated. Liquid transfer requires a serological pipette dispenser. They are the most recommended to use because of their accuracy in measuring the smallest incremental levels. The serological pipette controller helps to fill quickly and release volumes accurately. They attach to a glass or plastic pipette which can hold the liquid or volume itself.
Why should we use serological pipettes?
Because they are optimized optically. They can provide improved volume accuracy as well as offer clear ascending and descending graduation. The serological pipette tips are interchangeable, which gives additional safety protection to the operation.
How to use serological pipettes?

a. Before use
The first thing you should do is to check the pipette markings, accuracy grade, scale position, etc. After checking, the pipette should be rinsed with chromic acid washing solution to remove the oil from the inner wall. Then wash the residual solution with tap water and rinse again with distilled water. The inner wall of the cleaned pipette should be free of water droplets.
Before pipetting the solution, the water should be blotted out of the end of the pipette with filter paper. The wall of the tube should then be washed 2 to 3 times with the solution to be operated to ensure that the concentration of the solution being operated remains unchanged.
b. Imbibition
Insert the serological pipette approximately 1 cm below the surface of the solution to be measured while holding it above the neckline with the right thumb and middle finger. The serological pipette should not be inserted too far to prevent too much solution from adhering to the outer wall of the tip, nor should it be inserted too little to avoid emptying as the liquid level drops.
At that time, you should gently aspirate the solution with the ear washing bulb in your left hand and keep an eye on the rising level of the liquid (serological pipette with bulb). The pipette should be lowered as the liquid level in the container drops. When the liquid level rises to about 1 cm above the scale, you should quickly plug the mouth of the tube with your right index finger and remove the pipette.
c. Adjusting the liquid level
Lift the serological pipette up and off the liquid. The end of the pipette rests on the inner wall of the solution container. Keep the pipette upright. Then slightly relax the index finger so that the solution in the tube slowly flows out from the lower end until the lowest point of the solution is tangent to the marker line. At the moment, you should immediately compress the mouth of the pipette with your index finger. Finally, the droplet should remove from the wall, and you should take out the pipette and insert it into the vessel which is wearing the solution.
d. Discharge the solution
Transfer the pipette into the vessel which is ready to contain the solution. Make its outlet touch the vessel wall. Tilt the container slightly so that the pipette is upright. Then relax your right index finger and allow the solution to flow freely down the wall. After the solution has stopped flowing, wait 15 seconds to take it out.
Matters need attention when using
a) Do not serological pipette solutions that are too hot or too cold.
b) After use, pipettes should be rinsed with tap water and distilled water and placed on the serological pipette stand.
c) The serological pipettes should not be dried in the oven.
d) The same serological pipette should be used in the same experiment as much as possible.
e) Pipettes and volumetric flasks are often used together. Therefore, the relative volumes of the two should be calibrated before use.
f) To reduce measurement error, the required volume of solution should be released downward from the topmost scale (0 scales) as the starting point each time, rather than drawing up as much volume as needed.
How to buy serological pipettes?
ANTITECK provide lab equipment, lab consumable, manufacturing equipment in life sciences sector. If you are interested in our
serological pipettes or have any questions, please write an e-mail to
[email protected], we will reply to you as soon as possible.