Preventing Leachable Plastic from Disrupting Bioassays

Scientists routinely consider the quality of experimental factors such as samples, reagents, and laboratory equipment when optimizing assay performance, however laboratory consumables are one category where quality is often overlooked and uncontrolled. Plastic consumables are not all created equal, and bioactive contaminants leaching from low quality plastics is increasingly a cause for concern in life science laboratories. Durability, purity grade certification, and sustainability considerations help scientists ensure that leaching does not negatively affect assay results and enables futureproofing for sustainable laboratory practices.

The Problem with Leachable Plastics

Plastic leaching occurs when additives such as plasticizers, stabilizers, and pigments are not chemically bonded to the plastic matrix, allowing them to migrate into adjacent materials.¹ With over 4,000 known plastic-related chemicals and many non-intentionally added substances that result from plastic consumables reacting and breaking down, leaching is a significant and inadequately monitored issue. Scientists have begun to elucidate the human health and environmental risks associated with plastic packaging-derived chemicals, thus calling attention to how plastic consumables may influence biological readouts in the laboratory setting.²

Disposable plasticware such as test tubes and multi-well assay or cell culture plates may contain bioactive substances such as bisphenol A, phthalates, and other estrogenic or cytotoxic compounds, which can introduce significant assay variability and false positives or negatives.^1,2 For instance, leached substances can interfere with cell viability, enzyme function, or receptor signaling pathways, compromising bioassay reproducibility and accuracy. Addressing consumable quality is especially important for researchers performing high sensitivity assays, where contamination can more readily skew results and alter study conclusions.

Plastic Consumable Considerations

Durability

Durable plastic consumables resist physical degradation, minimizing the breakdown that can accelerate chemical leaching. Scientists should seek high-quality plastics engineered to withstand temperature shifts, mechanical stress, and solvents without compromising structural integrity, thus reducing contamination risks.

Purity grade

Advanced purity grade plastics are manufactured using virgin polymers that do not contain common chemical leaching culprits, such as slip agents, biocides, and plasticizers.³ These consumables undergo rigorous lot-by-lot testing and certification, ensuring minimal background interference and consistent assay performance.

Sustainable materials

Eco-conscious laboratories benefit from using consumables that meet sustainability certifications, which ensure environmentally responsible sourcing and production processes. These certifications often correlate with higher transparency in material composition, further reducing the likelihood of hidden leachable additives and aligning with best practices.

Selecting Plastic Consumables with Confidence

Eppendorf consumables meet high production and quality standards to minimize the risk of chemical leaching, including the absence of avoidable additives and ensuring lot-specific certification for advanced purity grades. From durable and automation-friendly plates to virgin polypropylene-comprised and experimentally optimized tubes, scientists can select from a range of consumables across different purity grades and performance features tailored to unique laboratory requirements.

Additionally, in line with increasingly eco-conscious research priorities, Eppendorf BioBased consumables made from renewable resource-derived second-generation polymers open new doors to laboratory sustainability without jeopardizing experimental results. Backed by quality requirement certifications, product-specific and lot-specific purity certificates, and environmental impact factor certification, these Eppendorf consumables provide researchers with confidence when selecting high-quality products that help achieve reliable results.