Name: a customizable chamber for measuring cell migration
Uploaded: 2017-03-12T14:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about A Customizable Chamber for Measuring Cell Migration at JoVE.com

The authors acknowledge Clemson University's Creative Inquiry program and NSF CBET1254609 for providing funding for this project.

1. Producing a Microchannel Chamber to Create a Concentration Gradient
<ol>
	<li>Cutting an acrylic mold piece
	<ol>
		<li>Obtain a piece of acrylic of the desired width. Typically use 1/16-inch-thick acrylic sheets. Thicker sheets are difficult to cut well and very thin sheets do not have the requisite mechanical strength, causing them to break or warp during the process.</li>
		<li>Create a CAD file with the desired shape of the acrylic piece to produce a cavity within the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)...

<ol>
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A., Brown, A. F. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=A+new+direct-viewing+chemotaxis+chamber.">A new direct-viewing chemotaxis chamber.</a> J Cell Sci. 99 (4), 769-775 (1991).</li><li>Wells, C. M., Ridley, A. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Analysis+of+cell+migration+using+the+Dunn+chemotaxis+chamber+and+time-lapse+microscopy.">Analysis of cell migration using the Dunn chemotaxis chamber and time-lapse microscopy.</a> Methods Mol Biol. , 31-41 (2005).</li><li>Liang, C. C., Park, A. Y., Guan, J. 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(69), (2012).</li></ol>

Our microchannel chamber may be used for a multitude of purposes, including determining the cell migration rate in response to growth factors and chemoattractants and measuring the diffusion rate of a drug from a polymer matrix. It is possible to utilize our microchannel chamber to grow cells and place a chemoattractant at one end of the chamber. The cells grow in response to the chemoattractant, and the cell migration can be quantified by taking time-lapse images that may be analyzed in order to determine the cell migra...

In order for vital processes such as wound healing, immune responses, and embryonic development to occur, cell migration must take place. Cell migration involves the interaction between cells and neighboring cells, the extracellular matrix, and soluble chemical cues (attractants or repellants). As an example, in the process of wound healing, fibroblasts play an integral role in fibrogenesis and wound contraction, where the cells are recruited to the site of injury to synthesize collagen in order to form the extracellular matrix3. Numerous mechanisms behind the migration of fibroblasts to a wound site have been studied, and they include different mechanical, physical, electrical, and chemotactic factors4. Fibroblasts respond especially well to different concentration gradients of growth factors. These different growth factors work together to optimize tissue regeneration5. While observing the chemotactic response of fibroblasts to growth factor concentrations, one can study the pattern of directional migration of fibroblasts and how they orient themselves around physical obstacles in order to reach their destination. Therefore, the goals of this study were to first develop a system in which fibroblast growth could be tracked under guidance by physical barriers and to secondly model the growth of fibroblasts as they navigate through the system.
Currently, the Boyden chamber assay is the most widely used system to measure the migration of cells6. The Boyden chamber consists of a two-chamber multi-well plate where each well may contain medium with or without chemoattractants7. A filter membrane provides a porous interface between the two chambers in each well; this creates a barrier so that cells cannot pass through unless it is by active migration. Typically, for the Boyden chamber, a chemoattractant is added to the lower chamber, and the system is allowed to equilibrate to form a gradient between the upper and lower wells4. One problem with the Boyden chamber assay is that steep gradients end up forming along a single axis perpendicular with the surface of the membrane. This causes the difference in the chemoattractant concentration between the upper and lower wells to be a lower than what was originally expected. Due to this constraint, the Boyden chamber assay makes it hard to correlate specific cell responses with particular gradient characteristics, such as the slope and the concentration difference. Without these measurements, it is hard to study multi-gradient signal integration.
To address some of the constraints of the traditional Boyden chamber assay, microfluidic assays have been developed to form customizable concentration gradients1. Standard methods for creating microfluidic systems require clean rooms for lithographic techniques. These techniques can be difficult to learn especially in a standard classroom setting. Thus, we have designed a chamber system for measuring cell migration that can be made without using a clean room. Using our system, the wells of the assay can be adjusted to a preferred size, and a linear concentration gradient of customized slope can be produced. This allows for accurate measurement of chemotaxis from random movement. The design is an inexpensive and easy-to-use system to model cell growth in response to different chemical stimuli.

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>Sylgard 184 Silicone Elastomer Kit</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>761036</td>
			<td>poly(dimethylsiloxane) 2-part kit including silicone elastomer base and silicone elastomer curing agent</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Acrylic Sheets</td>
			<td>US Plastic</td>
			<td>44200</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Disposable Petri Dishes&#160;</td>
			<td>Falcon&#160;</td>
			<td>25373-041</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Fluorescein isothiocyanate&#8211;dextran</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>FD20s-100MG</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Agarose, Type I, Low EEO</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>A6013-100G</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dulbecco&#39;s Modified Eagle&#39;s Medium</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>11965092</td>
			<td>Cell media components</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Fetal Bovine Serium</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>16000036</td>
			<td>Cell media components</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Penicillin-streptomycin</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>15140148</td>
			<td>Cell media components</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS)</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>BP24384</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>EVOS XL Cell Imaging System</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>AME3300</td>
			<td>Instrument used for taking time-lapse images</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Versa LASER</td>
			<td>Universal Laser Systems, Inc.&#160;</td>
			<td>Model number VLS2.30</td>
			<td>Laser cutter used for cutting plastic</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

a customizable chamber for measuring cell migration

Cell migration is a vital part of immune responses, growth, and wound healing. Cell migration is a complex process that involves interactions between cells, the extracellular matrix, and soluble and non-soluble chemical factors (e.g., chemoattractants). Standard methods for measuring the migration of cells, such as the Boyden chamber assay, work by counting cells on either side of a divider. These techniques are easy to use; however, they offer little geometric modification for different applications. In contrast, microfluidic devices can be used to observe cell migration with customizable concentration gradients of soluble factors1,2. However, methods for making microfluidics based assays can be difficult to learn.
Here, we describe an easy method for creating cell culture chambers to measure cell migration in response to chemical concentration gradients. Our cell migration chamber method can create different linear concentration gradients in order to study cell migration for a variety of applications. This method is relatively easy to use and is typically performed by undergraduate students.
The microchannel chamber was created by placing an acrylic insert in the shape of the final microchannel chamber well into a Petri dish. After this, poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) was poured on top of the insert. The PDMS was allowed to harden and then the insert was removed. This allowed for the creation of wells in any desired shape or size. Cells may be subsequently added to the microchannel chamber, and soluble agents can be added to one of the wells by soaking an agarose block in the desired agent. The agarose block is added to one of the wells, and time-lapse images can be taken of the microchannel chamber in order to quantify cell migration. Variations to this method can be made for a given application, making this method highly customizable.

Figure 2 shows the movement of the cell front across the channel in response to a gradient of fetal bovine serum placed at the opposite end of the channel from where the cells are plated. The cell front is shown at 48 h (Figure 2A), 72 h (Figure 2B), 96 h (Figure 2C), and 120 h (Figure 2D) post plating. The movement of the cell front was tracked with these time-lapse images, and the migration distance and...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about A Customizable Chamber for Measuring Cell Migration at JoVE.com 

A Customizable Chamber for Measuring Cell Migration (Video) | JoVE 

This protocol details a customizable method to measure cell migration in response to chemoattractants that may also be used to determine the diffusion rate of a drug out of a polymer matrix.

A Customizable Chamber for Measuring Cell Migration

Cell migration is a vital part of immune responses, growth, and wound healing. Cell migration is a complex process that involves interactions between ...

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