Homogenization (biology)

It can be a disease sign in histopathology, or an intentional process in research: A homogenized sample is equal in composition throughout, so that removing a fraction does not alter the overall molecular make-up of the sample remaining, and is identical to the fraction removed.

Induced homogenization in biology is often followed by molecular extraction and various analytical techniques, including ELISA and western blot.

[1] Homogenization of tissue in solution is often performed simultaneously with cell lysis.

Cryohomogenization can be carried out using a supercooled mortar and pestle (classic approach), or the tissue can be homogenized by crushing it into a fine powder inside a clean plastic bag resting against a supercooled solid metal block[3] (more recently developed and more efficient technique).

High-pressure homogenization is used to isolate the contents of Gram-positive bacteria, since these cells are exceptionally resistant to lysis, and may be combined with high-temperature sterilization.

In histopathology , pathologic homogenization is seen as a loss of variations, such as of collagen in lichen sclerosus (pictured).