Cell-Extracellular Matrix Adhesion Assay

Abstract

Adhesion is defined as a fundamental ability of the adherent cells isolated from the multicellular organisms to attach to an extracellular matrix or another cell, and it takes a key role in a wide variety of the important molecular mechanisms such as cell communication, regulation, differentiation, migration, wound healing, immune response, inflammation, embryonic development, and maintenance of tissues. Adhesion assays therefore provide information about not only the interactions between cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix but also the other cellular events. In this chapter, it was desired to describe an easily applicable cell-extracellular matrix adhesion assay by explaining the purposes of each experimental step because it seems, to the best of our knowledge, that there is no a complete protocol that explains well the purposes and the related molecular mechanisms of the experimental steps though there are many well-written protocols for adhesion assays.