Does liquid retention impact pipette accuracy and precision?

Yes. When dispensing detergents and liquids with high viscosity such as glycerol, pipette tips made from standard polypropylene tend to form a film around the inside wall resulting in liquid retention. Depending on the retained volume and user’s application, this can affect assay accuracy and precision.

In this study, liquid retention levels of different types of solutions were determined on various pipette tips from major manufacturers. The data demonstrated that Thermo Scientific™ QSP low retention tips retain less volume compared to QSP non-low retention tips and other manufacturers of low retention pipette tips. The QSP low retention properties improve pipetting accuracy and precision.

Standard curves from the various green substrates are plotted in Figure 1. The volumes retained are illustrated in Figure 2 and further summarised in Table A. The QSP low retention tips show an average of 25% less liquid retention with water, an average of 15% less with 40 μg/ml BSA solution and an average of 53% less with 50% glycerol when compared to products from other manufacturers as summarised in Table 1. Additionally, when comparing the QSP non-low retention tips to the QSP low retention tips the low retention tips show an average of 32% less liquid retained from aspirating and dispensing 10ul of water, and an average of 50% for glycerol and BSA.

Based on our results, the QSP low retention tips demonstrate minimal liquid retention across the solutions tested. Less than an average of 0.05 μl retained from aspirating and dispensing 10 μl of water, 50% glycerol and BSA solution. The QSP low retention technology successfully minimised the formation of liquid films during dispensing and subsequently improved pipetting accuracy and precision.

Learn more about Thermo Scientific QSP Low Retention Pipette tips www.thermofisher.com/pipettetips