Abstract
Direct visualization chambers are considered the gold standard for measuring and analyzing chemotactic responses, because they allow detailed analysis of cellular behavior during the process of chemotaxis. We have previously described the Insall chamber, an improved chamber for measuring cancer cell chemotaxis. Here, we describe in detail how this system can be used to perform two key assays for both fast- and slow-moving mammalian and nonmammalian cell types. This allows for the detailed analysis of chemotactic responses in linear gradients at the levels of both overall cell behavior and subcellular dynamics.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Zigmond SH (1974) Mechanisms of sensing chemical gradients by polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Nature 249:450–452
Roussos ET, Condeelis JS, Patsialou A (2011) Chemotaxis in cancer. Nat Rev Cancer 11:573–587
Insall RH, Machesky LM (2009) Actin dynamics at the leading edge: from simple machinery to complex networks. Dev Cell 17:310–322
Insall RH (2010) Understanding eukaryotic chemotaxis: a pseudopod-centred view. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 11:453–458
Zigmond SH, Hirsch JG (1973) Leukocyte locomotion and chemotaxis. New methods for evaluation, and demonstration of a cell-derived chemotactic factor. J Exp Med 137:387–410
Muinonen-Martin AJ, Veltman DM, Kalna G, Insall RH (2010) An improved chamber for direct visualisation of chemotaxis. PLoS One 5:e15309
Soll DR (1995) The use of computers in understanding how animal cells crawl. Int Rev Cytol 163:43–104
Zicha D, Dunn GA, Brown AF (1991) A new direct-viewing chemotaxis chamber. J Cell Sci 99:769–775
Berens P (2009) CircStat: a MATLAB toolbox for circular statistics. J Stat Software 31:1–21
Acknowledgments
We thank Epigem (http://epigem.co.uk) for manufacturing the Insall chambers, Don MacBean for manufacturing the chamber holder cassettes and drilling the chambers, and Michael Carnell for writing the stitching plugin.
This work has been supported by a Wellcome Trust and a CRUK core grant.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Muinonen-Martin, A.J., Knecht, D.A., Veltman, D.M., Thomason, P.A., Kalna, G., Insall, R.H. (2013). Measuring Chemotaxis Using Direct Visualization Microscope Chambers. In: Coutts, A. (eds) Adhesion Protein Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1046. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-538-5_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-538-5_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
Print ISBN: 978-1-62703-537-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-62703-538-5
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols