Abstract
Cells migrate to perform specific functions such as tissue/organ formation during development or to repair injured tissue. Therefore, the study of cell migration is important not only for fundamental cell biology research, but also to understand tissue morphogenesis and wound healing. In this chapter, we describe a method developed in our laboratory to measure cell migration in a uniaxial direction. In this approach, linear microgrooves, fabricated on a transparent poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) substrate, allow cells to move in a uniaxial direction, in contrast to the random movement of cells in all directions on a smooth substrate surface. This chapter describes in detail the materials and methods needed to measure cell movement using microgrooved substrates, as well as applications of this method.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Rodriguez LG, Wu X, Guan JL (2005) Wound-healing assay. Methods Mol Biol 294:23–29
Thampatty BP, Wang JH (2007) A new approach to study fibroblast migration. Cell Motil Cytoskeleton 64:1–5
Ellis IR, Schor SL (1998) Differential motogenic and biosynthetic response of fetal and adult skin fibroblasts to TGF-beta isoforms. Cytokine 10:281–289
Song QH, Klepeis VE, Nugent MA, Trinkaus-Randall V (2002) TGF-beta1 regulates TGF-beta1 and FGF-2 mRNA expression during fibroblast wound healing. Mol Pathol 55:164–176
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the funding support from NIH/NIAMS (AR065949, AR061395 and AR060920) for this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Wang, J.HC., Zhao, G., Li, B. (2016). Measurement of Cell Motility Using Microgrooved Substrates. In: Gavin, R. (eds) Cytoskeleton Methods and Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1365. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3124-8_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3124-8_15
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-3123-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-3124-8
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols