Methods for Evaluation of the Chemotactic Migration of the Cells in 3D Biomimetic Matrix

Abstract

Cell migration plays a critical role in various biological processes such as embryogenesis, metastasis of tumor cells and wound healing. Therefore, the migratory behavior of the cells has been researched with various influencing factors including chemoattractants. Most researches have done with 2 dimensional (2D) structured stratums to investigate the cell migration, however, this study suggests three different methods for in vitro studies of cell migratory behavior which are performed in biomimetic 3D structural environment by using collagen matrix. In the firstly introduced method, wound model was built up with a silicon insert and the chemoattractant, PDGF-bb was applied. Then, the movement of the cells to the wound area was observed. It was designed for examination of the potential of wound healing effect of certain agents. Other two methods are to study chemotactic migration of the cells in the 3D matrix in the presence of the chemoattractant. The orientation of the cell migration was examined by the under-agarose cell migration assay as the cells were seeded between the control collagen gel and PDGF-bb containing collagen gel. The cells located in the middle of the migrating chamber were affected by the components in both sides and the direction of their movement was determined. The last method was also performed in a 3D collagen matrix and the cell suspension was directly contacted to the chemoattractant. Therefore, the movement behavior of the cells was influenced by the agent. These protocols have different characteristics to evaluate the migration of the cells, and thus an appropriate method would be chosen for various studies of migration.