Congratulations! You have collected your urine sample. What do you do now? Do you…

1. Leave it at room temperature and risk degradation of precious DNA and RNA
2. Freeze it at -80°C and lose yield due to protein precipitation
3. Use a preservative (hint, it’s this one)

Preservation of urine samples is a hot topic, as many experiments involve collection of urine at an ancillary site and transportation or storage before it can be processed in the lab. Urine preservation at room temperature is incredibly useful, as the common practice of freezing samples has been a hurdle in research due to complications that can occur. These complications include the loss of valuable biomarkers as well as the cost and logistics of cold-chain storage.

Below, we present the top 5 reasons why you should use a chemical preservative the next time you collect urine samples!

1. Skip the Freezing

Freezing urine samples has long been the traditional gold standard for preservation and storage. Typically, after collection, storage at -70°C is immediately performed in secondary collection facilities in order to prevent rapid nucleic acid degradation. Freezing tends to result in precipitation of the abundant protein found in urine - uromodulin. This protein creates a polymeric mesh in the frozen urine sample, trapping valuable biomarker molecules. The problem arises when these trapped molecules are removed within the precipitate, lowering the overall yield of potential biomarkers, such as nucleic acids. Sounds like a headache, right? Imagine going through an entire purification protocol just to end up with very low yields due to the storage method. By using preservatives, the negative effects of freezing can be completely avoided.

3. Convenience

Traveling to a doctor’s office for urine sample collection can be stressful and uncomfortable. However, the use of a chemical preservative can minimize the difficulty of sample collection and increase patient compliance in your research. Our Urine Collection and Preservation products come in various sizes for any research requirement, including a single dose ampoule, which preserves a flexible volume of urine (5-120mL) in any container of your choice. With the convenience of immediate preservation, your focus can remain on the purification and downstream analysis, which is where you will see the true benefits of using a high-quality preservative.

4. Wide Compatibility

Many studies involve examining multiple types and species of biomarkers, however, using a separate collection system for each analyte is expensive and inconvenient. Norgen’s products preserve the highest variety of bioanalytes, including DNA, cell-free DNA, RNA, cell-free RNA, exosomes, exfoliated cells, bacterial cells and viruses. The preservative reliably stores the urine samples until further analysis such as cell-free DNA purification, cell-free RNA purification, exfoliated cell and bacteria RNA purification, etc. Using a preservative also prepares you for downstream applications after your purification process, such as Next Generation Sequencing.

With the convenience of immediately preserving urine samples at the point of collection while rendering them safe for shipping and handling, chemical preservatives have numerous advantages over freezing.

If you would like to try our urine preservative in your lab, request a sample!