Decompression Cell disruption by decompression is achieved by mixing cell suspension with pressurized supercritical gas and subsequent release of the pressure. The gas which has entered the cells expands upon pressure release and causes cell disruption due to the high pressure. Osmotic shock Osmotic shock is applied by exposing cells to a medium containing high concentration of a solute, e.g., salt or sugar exerting a high osmotic pressure and the subsequent sudden dilution of the medium resulting in an increase in intracellular pressure. Microorganisms with cell walls are not destroyed by osmotic shock. Extraction Soxhlet Extraction The Soxhlet extractor was invented by Franz Soxhlet in 1879 for the lipid extraction from milk powder and is one of the most common semi-continuous methods for lipid extraction from solid food samples. The sample is dried, ground to a fine powder and placed on a porous thimble inside the extraction chamber. The sample is extracted by several washing rounds with an organic solvent (originally petroleum ether) under reflux. After extraction, the solvent is evaporated and the residue is weighed, giving the total dry mass of extracted lipid. Folch extraction The Folch extraction method is generally accepted as a standard technique for recovering total lipids. It was originally invented as a simple method for the extraction of total lipids from animal tissues (brain, liver, and muscle) and uses the chloroform:methanol (2:1) solvent system and addition of salts to the crude extract. By washing the crude extract with water or a salt solution, a biphasic system is formed, with the lipid fraction in the lower phase and the non-lipid fraction in the upper (watery) phase. Pressurized liquid extraction Pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) is similar to Soxhlet extraction but uses liquid solvents at elevated temperatures and pressures resulting in an enhanced extraction performance due to enhanced solubility and mass transfer properties. The sample is placed into an extraction cell which is heated to 80–200°C. The solvent is pumped into the extraction cell and remains a certain time, usually 5–10 min, under elevated pressure (10–20 MPa). Subsequently, fresh solvent is introduced and the extract is stored in a collection vial. Finally, the whole solvent is pushed out into the collection vial using pressurized nitrogen. Supercritical fluids extraction Supercritical fluids are defined as any substance above its critical temperature and pressure. In supercritical state, substances have highly desirable properties making them suitable for extractions: they can penetrate into