Nile Red Staining for Oil Determination in Microalgal Cells: A New Insight through Statistical Modelling

In the wake of global warming and rapid fossil fuel depletion, microalgae emerge as promising feedstocks for sustainable biofuel production. Nile red staining acts as a rapid diagnostic tool to measure the amount of biodiesel-convertible lipid that the cells accumulate. There is a need for the devel...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ronald Halim, Paul A. Webley
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2015-01-01
Series:International Journal of Chemical Engineering
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/695061
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849401408150831104
author Ronald Halim
Paul A. Webley
author_facet Ronald Halim
Paul A. Webley
author_sort Ronald Halim
collection DOAJ
description In the wake of global warming and rapid fossil fuel depletion, microalgae emerge as promising feedstocks for sustainable biofuel production. Nile red staining acts as a rapid diagnostic tool to measure the amount of biodiesel-convertible lipid that the cells accumulate. There is a need for the development of a more uniform staining procedure. In its first phase, this study examined the dependence of microalgal Nile red fluorescence (Tetraselmis suecica) in terms of its most pertinent staining variables. A quadratic surface model that successfully described the Nile red fluorescence intensity as a composite function of its variables was generated (r2=0.86). Cell concentration was shown to have a significant effect on the fluorescence intensity. Up to a certain threshold, fluorescence intensity was shown to increase with Nile red dye concentration. In its second phase, the study reviewed findings from previous Nile red studies to elucidate some of the fundamental mechanism underlying the diffusion of Nile red dye molecules into the microalgal cells and their subsequent interaction with intracellular lipids. Through the review process, we were able to develop a simple framework that provided a set of guidelines for the standardization of the Nile red staining procedure across different microalgal species.
format Article
id doaj-art-8c640da7fb77404a8e7d5d8b670a8f8a
institution Kabale University
issn 1687-806X
1687-8078
language English
publishDate 2015-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series International Journal of Chemical Engineering
spelling doaj-art-8c640da7fb77404a8e7d5d8b670a8f8a2025-08-20T03:37:46ZengWileyInternational Journal of Chemical Engineering1687-806X1687-80782015-01-01201510.1155/2015/695061695061Nile Red Staining for Oil Determination in Microalgal Cells: A New Insight through Statistical ModellingRonald Halim0Paul A. Webley1Bio-Engineering Laboratory (BEL), Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, AustraliaDepartment of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, AustraliaIn the wake of global warming and rapid fossil fuel depletion, microalgae emerge as promising feedstocks for sustainable biofuel production. Nile red staining acts as a rapid diagnostic tool to measure the amount of biodiesel-convertible lipid that the cells accumulate. There is a need for the development of a more uniform staining procedure. In its first phase, this study examined the dependence of microalgal Nile red fluorescence (Tetraselmis suecica) in terms of its most pertinent staining variables. A quadratic surface model that successfully described the Nile red fluorescence intensity as a composite function of its variables was generated (r2=0.86). Cell concentration was shown to have a significant effect on the fluorescence intensity. Up to a certain threshold, fluorescence intensity was shown to increase with Nile red dye concentration. In its second phase, the study reviewed findings from previous Nile red studies to elucidate some of the fundamental mechanism underlying the diffusion of Nile red dye molecules into the microalgal cells and their subsequent interaction with intracellular lipids. Through the review process, we were able to develop a simple framework that provided a set of guidelines for the standardization of the Nile red staining procedure across different microalgal species.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/695061
spellingShingle Ronald Halim
Paul A. Webley
Nile Red Staining for Oil Determination in Microalgal Cells: A New Insight through Statistical Modelling
International Journal of Chemical Engineering
title Nile Red Staining for Oil Determination in Microalgal Cells: A New Insight through Statistical Modelling
title_full Nile Red Staining for Oil Determination in Microalgal Cells: A New Insight through Statistical Modelling
title_fullStr Nile Red Staining for Oil Determination in Microalgal Cells: A New Insight through Statistical Modelling
title_full_unstemmed Nile Red Staining for Oil Determination in Microalgal Cells: A New Insight through Statistical Modelling
title_short Nile Red Staining for Oil Determination in Microalgal Cells: A New Insight through Statistical Modelling
title_sort nile red staining for oil determination in microalgal cells a new insight through statistical modelling
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/695061
work_keys_str_mv AT ronaldhalim nileredstainingforoildeterminationinmicroalgalcellsanewinsightthroughstatisticalmodelling
AT paulawebley nileredstainingforoildeterminationinmicroalgalcellsanewinsightthroughstatisticalmodelling