TABLE 2.
Examples of commercially available kits for nucleic acid extraction in CSF specimens
| Reagent | Principle | Comment(s) |
|---|---|---|
| IsoQuick (ORCA Research, Inc., Bothell, Wash.) | Chaotropic lysis | May also be used for RNA extraction; extraction times are 90 min to 3 h; properties of organic phase may inhibit amplification |
| DNAzol (Life Technologies GibcoBRL, Grand Island, N.Y.) | Chaotropic lysis | 10- to 30-min protocol; 70–100% recovery rate; application to paraffin tissue samples |
| QIAamp (QIAGEN, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.) | Spin column | Available for several specimen types; free of inhibitors; 96-well capability enhances high-volume testing; DNA ranges up to 50 kb; extraction times are 20 to 120 min |
| RapidPrep (Pharmacia Biotech, Piscataway, N.J.) | Spin column | Not applicable to high volume testing |
| Micromix (Tri-Delta Diagnostics, Cedar Knolls, N.J.) | Spin column | 2 to 6 mg of pure DNA in 10–60 min |
| GNOME (Bio 101, Vista, Calif.) | Chaotropic lysis | Three-step, 60- to 90-min protocol |
| Dynabeads DNA DIRECT (DYNAL, Lake Success, N.Y.) | Magnetic separation | Precipitation not required |
| NucliSens (Organon-Teknika Corp., Durham, N.C.) | Silicon binding | For both DNA and RNA extraction; relatively quick protocol; applicable to large-volume specimens |
| XTRAX (Gull Laboratories, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah) | Chaotropic lysis | One sample completed in 3.5 min; procedure requires a microwave; successful for stool samples |
| InstaGene Matrix (Bio-Rad, Hercules, Calif.) | Chaotropic lysis |