Abstract
Cell migration and invasion involve the active translocation of cells along surfaces and through tissues and are key processes during different stages of life from early embryonic development to adulthood in both normal and pathophysiological conditions. During cancer progression towards metastatic disease, the cellular mechanisms underlying motility and invasion tend to be hijacked by cancer cells in order to disseminate throughout the body. An important mechanism driving cell motility is chemotaxis, the directional movement of cells along a chemical gradient.
Based on the setup of a conventional dual chamber Transwell system separated by a microporous membrane, the application of gold microelectrodes on the bottom side of the membrane enables the continuous detection and relative quantification, expressed as a Cell Index, of migrating or invading cells in real time, without interventions of fixing and staining. Nevertheless, post-fixation fluorescent or colorimetric endpoint measurements are possible and allow one to translate the dimensionless Cell Index parameter of the last measured time point into morphometric/colorimetric/fluorescence data.
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Limame, R., De Wever, O. (2015). Label-Free Impedance-Based Monitoring of Cell Migration and Invasion. In: Fang, Y. (eds) Label-Free Biosensor Methods in Drug Discovery. Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2617-6_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2617-6_19
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2616-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2617-6
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