The authors thank Mike Myles, Sam Saunders, and C.W. Elton at the ECU Multimedia &amp; Technology Services for providing assistance in video production. We acknowledge the grant support from North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Golfers against Cancer, Brody Brothers Endowment Fund, American Heart Association, and ECU/Vidant Cancer Research and Education Fund (L.V.Y. and M.J.R.).

1.&#160;Cell Culture Wound Closure Assay
<ol>
	<li>Detach cells from the tissue culture plate using 0.25% Trypsin-EDTA solution. Pellet cells in a 15 ml conical tube by centrifugation, aspirate the supernatant, and re-suspend cells in culture media. Plate the appropriate number of cells in a 6-well plate for 100% confluence in 24 hours. 
	Note: Tests may be needed to determine the time and number of cells to achieve 100% confluence due to the cell type and the size of the well being used (for example, 1 x 106...

<ol>
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Cell migration is an important aspect to study in cancer research and it can also be applied to developmental, immunological and wound healing studies. The cell culture wound closure assay and the transwell cell migration and invasion assays reveal detailed information of cell migratory behaviors and can be used to investigate the molecular mechanisms of cell migration1,2,10,14. Our study used these cell motility assays to determine the migration velocity and invasion capabilities of a B16F10 melanoma cell lin...

Motility is an essential feature of live cells. Cell migration is involved in the conception of life, embryonic development, immune response, and many pathological processes such as cancer metastasis and inflammation1-9. Therefore, methods to study cell migratory behavior are very useful research tools for a wide range of disciplines in biomedical sciences, biology, bioengineering, and related fields.
The study of cell migration in cancer research is of particular interest as the main cause of death in cancer patients is related to metastatic progression. In order for cancer to spread and disseminate throughout the body, cancer cells must migrate and invade through extracellular matrix (ECM), intravasate into blood circulation, attach to a distant site, and finally extravasate to form distant foci1,10-12. Various biological methods may be employed to study these events in detail. The cell culture wound-closure and the transwell migration and invasion assays are widely used in the scientific community1,10. These tests can provide the necessary data that may allow for an understanding of how well a particular cell type can spontaneously migrate or respond to a chemo-attractant and directionally migrate toward it. Several migratory phenotypes have been described. Cells may migrate in a single cell form such as seen in mesenchymal or amoeboid-like movement or by multicellular movement labeled collective migration or cell streaming13. The method of movement used in motile cells can be readily observed using the cell culture wound closure assay.
Among the numerous ways to study cell migration, the cell wound closure assay is one of the simplest. This method is useful to determine the migration ability of whole cell masses. When taken a step further it can be used to observe individual cell&#8217;s morphological characteristics during migration14. Following the analysis of the wound closure many phenotypes may be revealed. Measuring the closed distance over time when comparing to a control may reveal specific migration changes or an impaired migratory phenotype that was unknown previously. Furthermore, single cell lamellipodium formation, tail retraction, and directional movement may give clues for what may be impaired or enhanced in the cells of interest14.
The transwell migration and invasion assays may be used to analyze the ability of single cells to directionally respond to various chemo-attractants whether they are chemokines, growth factors, lipids, or nucleotides4,5,8,15,16. It may also assess differential migratory ability due to the over-expression of a receptor1,14. These assays can also be used to identify and characterize the key regulators of cell migration such as the Rho family of small GTPases2. Following these short and easily accessible tests, the mode of cell migration and the ability of a cell to invade into a 3-D matrix may also be determined.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="601">
	<tbody>
		<tr height="43">
			<td height="43" style="height:43px;width:169px;">Dulbecco&#8217;s modified Eagle medium (DMEM)</td>
			<td style="width:133px;">Gibco</td>
			<td style="width:107px;">11995-073</td>
			<td style="width:193px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="43">
			<td height="43" style="height:43px;width:169px;">Fetal bovine serum (FBS)</td>
			<td style="width:133px;">Gemini</td>
			<td style="width:107px;">100106</td>
			<td style="width:193px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="43">
			<td height="43" style="height:43px;width:169px;">Bovine serum albumin (BSA)</td>
			<td style="width:133px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:107px;">A4503-50G</td>
			<td style="width:193px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="22">
			<td height="22" style="height:22px;width:169px;">Trypsin EDTA 0.25%</td>
			<td style="width:133px;">Gibco</td>
			<td style="width:107px;">25200-056</td>
			<td style="width:193px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="43">
			<td height="43" style="height:43px;width:169px;">Dulbecco&#8217;s phosphate buffered saline (DPBS)</td>
			<td style="width:133px;">Gibco</td>
			<td style="width:107px;">14190-250</td>
			<td style="width:193px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="22">
			<td height="22" style="height:22px;width:169px;">Crystal violet</td>
			<td style="width:133px;">Sigma</td>
			<td style="width:107px;">C0775-100G</td>
			<td style="width:193px;">Dissolved in water at 0.2%</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="43">
			<td height="43" style="height:43px;width:169px;">Cell disassociation buffer</td>
			<td style="width:133px;">Gibco</td>
			<td style="width:107px;">13151-014</td>
			<td style="width:193px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="43">
			<td height="43" style="height:43px;width:169px;">Cell culture incubator</td>
			<td style="width:133px;">Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td style="width:107px;"></td>
			<td style="width:193px;">Model # 3145</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="43">
			<td height="43" style="height:43px;width:169px;">SterilGARD biosafety hood</td>
			<td style="width:133px;">The Baker Company, Inc.&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:107px;"></td>
			<td style="width:193px;">Model # VBM-600</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="43">
			<td height="43" style="height:43px;width:169px;">EVOS Fl inverted microscope</td>
			<td style="width:133px;">Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td style="width:107px;"></td>
			<td style="width:193px;">Model # AMF-4302-US</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="64">
			<td height="64" style="height:64px;width:169px;">Tissue culture plate</td>
			<td style="width:133px;">Becton Dickinson</td>
			<td style="width:107px;">353046</td>
			<td style="width:193px;">Catalog number varies depending on the type of culture plate</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="63" rowspan="2" style="height:63px;width:169px;">Corning Transwell insert</td>
			<td rowspan="2" style="width:133px;">Fisher</td>
			<td rowspan="2" style="width:107px;">07-200-150</td>
			<td rowspan="2" style="width:193px;">Catalog number varies depending on the pore size of the membrane</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

in vitro cell migration and invasion assays

Migration is a key property of live cells and critical for normal development, immune response, and disease processes such as cancer metastasis and inflammation. Methods to examine cell migration are very useful and important for a wide range of biomedical research such as cancer biology, immunology, vascular biology, cell biology and developmental biology. Here we use tumor cell migration and invasion as an example and describe two related assays to illustrate the commonly used, easily accessible methods to measure these processes. The first method is the cell culture wound closure assay in which a scratch is generated on a confluent cell monolayer. The speed of wound closure and cell migration can be quantified by taking snapshot pictures with a regular inverted microscope at several time intervals. More detailed cell migratory behavior can be documented using the time-lapse microscopy system. The second method described in this paper is the transwell cell migration and invasion assay that measures the capacity of cell motility and invasiveness toward a chemo-attractant gradient. It is our goal to describe these methods in a highly accessible manner so that the procedures can be successfully performed in research laboratories even just with basic cell biology setup.

The wound closure assay and the transwell cell migration assay presented here were performed using mouse B16F10 melanoma cells as a model system. In the wound closure assay, B16F10 cells were seeded in a 6-well tissue culture plate and grown to 100% confluence in 24 hours. A wound of approximately 700 &#181;m wide was generated using a pipette tip and the wound closure (cell migration) was recorded using the time-lapse microscopy. Alternatively, wound closure can also be studied by taking snapshot pictures at different t...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about In vitro Cell Migration and Invasion Assays at JoVE.com

In vitro Cell Migration and Invasion Assays

Commonly used, highly accessible methods for examining cell migration and invasion in vitro are described. The first method is the cell wound closure assay that measures cell motility. The second method is the transwell migration and invasion assay that assesses the chemotactic and invasive capacity of cells.

In vitro Cell Migration and Invasion Assays

Migration is a key property of live cells and critical for normal development, immune response, and disease processes such as cancer metastasis and ...

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Cell Polarization and Migration

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136.4K Views.  East Carolina University. Commonly used, highly accessible methods for examining cell migration and invasion in vitro are described. The first method is the cell wound closure assay that measures cell motility. The second method is the transwell migration and invasion assay that assesses the chemotactic and invasive capacity of cells.