Protease Inhibitor Cocktails

Protease inhibitor cocktails are a mix of compounds that inhibit the proteolytic activity of proteases. They can be used to prevent the degradation of proteins of interest by endogenous proteases present in a crude sample. To this end, inhibitor cocktails should be added to the sample prior to homogenization. Some cocktails offer broad specificity for the inhibition of serine, cysteine, aspartic proteases and aminopeptidases, while others provide a limited inhibition of one particular type of protease. The protease inhibitor cocktail can also be selected based on the species of interest – i.e mammals, bacteria, plants, or fungi, as tailored mixes are available for each species. Bacterial protease inhibitors may be composed of Bestatin, PMSF, Pepstatin A, and AEBSF, while mammalian protease inhibitor cocktails may additionally contain Leupeptin and Aprotinin. Some mixtures contain the chelating agent EDTA, therefore the extraction buffer in such instances should not contain divalent cations like Ca2+ or Mg2+. Some inhibitors in the cocktail are reversible while others are irreversible. Protease inhibitor cocktails can be used when preparing cytosolic and nuclear extracts and for tissue homogenization prior to applications such as Western Blot. Visit the supplier page for more inhibitor information.