Caco-2 Cell Bioassay: An In Vitro Method for Measuring Iron Bioavailability in Complex Food Sources

Protocol

NOTE: As a convenient point of reference for readers, the following methodology describes the specific culture conditions and materials required for the measurement of Fe bioavailability from 20 experimental samples, plus the required quality controls, in a run of the bioassay. Increasing the number of samples beyond this capacity is not recommended due to the time required for various cell culture and in vitro digestion steps within the bioassay.

1. Choosing the amount of samples

1. For solid or liquid foods, determine an amount of food that can be considered representative of the sample to be tested.

Results

Figure 1: Insert ring setup for Caco-2 cell Fe uptake. (A) Image of Caco-2 cells and insert ring with attached dialysis membrane. (B) Diagram of the overall procedure for in vitro digestion coupled with Caco-2 cell Fe uptake within a single well of the multi-well plate.

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Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
0.5 M HCl	Fisher Scientific	A508-4 Hydrochloric Acid TraceMetal Grade
18 megaohm water			Also known as distilled, deionized water
3,3′,5-Triiodo-L-thyronine sodium salt	Sigma Aldrich Co	T6397
6-well plates	Costar	3506	Use for bioassay experiments
ascorbic acid	Sigma Aldrich Co	A0278
bile extract	Sigma Aldrich Co	B8631
Caco-2 cells	American Type Culture Collection	HTB-37	HTB-37 is a common variety.
Cell culture flasks T225	Falcon	353138
Cell culture flasks T25	Corning	430639
Cell culture flasks T75	Corning	430641U
Chelex-100	Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc	142832	Known as the weak cation exchange resin in the protocol
collagen	Corning	354236
dialysis membrane	Spectrum Laboratories	Spectra/Por 7 Pretreated RC Dialysis Tubing 15,000 MWCO	Spectra/Por 7 Pretreated RC Dialysis Tubing 15,000 MWCO
Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium	Gibco	12100046	DMEM
epidermal growth factor	Sigma Aldrich Co	E4127-5X.1MG
fetal bovine serum	R&D Systems	S12450	Optima
HEPES	Sigma Aldrich Co	H3375
Hydrocortisone-Water Soluble	Sigma Aldrich Co	H0396
insert ring	Corning Costar	not sold	Transwell, for 6 well plate, without membrane
insulin	Sigma Aldrich Co	I2643
KCl	Sigma Aldrich Co	P9333
large column	VWR International	KT420400-1530
Minimum Essential Medium	Gibco	41500034	MEM
NaCl	Fisher Scientific	S271
pancreatin	Sigma Aldrich Co	P1750
PIPES disodium salt	Sigma Aldrich Co	Piperazine-1,4-bis(2-ethanesulfonic acid) disodium salt P3768
porcine pepsin	Sigma Aldrich Co	P6887 or (P7012-25G Sigma
silicone o rings	Web Seal, Inc Rochester NY	2-215S500
sodium bicarbonate	Fisher Scientific	S233
Sodium selenite	Sigma Aldrich Co	S5261
ZellShield	Minerva Biolabs	13-0050	Use at 1% as antibiotic/antimycotic ordered through Thomas Scientific