Modeling Ovarian Cancer Metastasis in Peritoneal Cavity Lining: A Method To Establish an In Vitro 3D Model of the Peritoneal Lining

To release the normal omentum fibroblasts from culture, rinse the culture flask with 10 milliliters of PBS followed by 3 milliliters of trypsin for no more than 5 minutes. When the cells have detached, neutralize the trypsin with at least three times the volume of full growth medium and transfer the cells to a 50-milliliter conical tube. Spin down the cells and resuspend the pellet in 5 milliliters of full growth medium. Then, count the cells and dilute them to a 2 to 4 times 10 to the third fibroblast per 100 microliters of full growth medium concentration.

Next, add 0.5 micrograms per 100 microliters of rat-tail collagen I to the cells and plate 100 microliters of cells per well into a black, clear bottom 96-well plate. Then, transfer the plate to a cell culture incubator for at least 4 hours or until the cells adhere to the plate surface. While the normal omentum fibroblasts are settling, detach the HPMC from their culture flasks and dilute these cells to 1 to 2 times 10 to the fourth HPMC per 50 microliters of full growth medium.

Then, add 50 microliters of HPMC per well to the attached normal omentum fibroblasts and return the plate to the cell culture incubator for at least 18 hours before experimental use. The next day, seed the 3D organotypic co-cultures with GFP expressing ovarian cancer cells from an 80% to 90% confluent culture at the appropriate dilution for the desired downstream assay.