The influence of serum-supplemented culture media in a transwell migration assay

Siti Sarah Omar Zaki; Livashini Kanesan; Ming Yeh Danielle Leong; Sharmili Vidyadaran

doi:10.1002/cbin.11122

The influence of serum-supplemented culture media in a transwell migration assay

Cell Biol Int. 2019 Oct;43(10):1201-1204. doi: 10.1002/cbin.11122. Epub 2019 Jul 16.

Authors

Siti Sarah Omar Zaki¹, Livashini Kanesan¹, Ming Yeh Danielle Leong^{1

2}, Sharmili Vidyadaran¹

Affiliations

¹ Neuroinflammation Group, Immunology Laboratory, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, 43400, Malaysia.
² Division of Applied Biomedical Science and Biotechnology, School of Health Sciences, International Medical University, 126, Jalan Jalil Perkasa 19, 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

PMID: 30811086
DOI: 10.1002/cbin.11122

Abstract

Our work cautions against the use of serum-supplemented culture media in a transwell migration assay when using chemoattractants other than FBS. At 24 h, a 5% foetal bovine serum (FBS) gradient caused BV2 microglia to migrate toward the lower compartment of the transwell apparatus. Interestingly, FBS-supplemented media in the absence of a gradient also resulted in notable microglia migration. Serum can therefore confound the interpretation of a transwell migration assay when another chemoattractant is used.

Keywords: BV2 microglia; chemoattractant; serum; transwell migration assay.

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Culture Techniques / methods*
Cell Movement
Cells, Cultured
Chemotactic Factors / chemistry
Culture Media / chemistry
Microglia / cytology*
Serum / chemistry

Substances

Chemotactic Factors
Culture Media