Towards an Endpoint Cell Motility Assay by a Microfluidic Platform

Abstract

In vitro cell motility assays are frequently used in the study of cell migration in response to anti-cancer drug treatment. Microfluidic systems represent a unique tool for the in vitro analysis of cell motility. However, they usually rely on using time-lapse microscopy to record the spatial temporal locations of the individual cells being tested. This has created a bottleneck for microfluidic systems to perform high-throughput experiments due to requirement of a costly time-lapse microscopy system. Here, we describe the development of a portable microfluidic device for endpoint analysis of cell motility. The reported device incorporates a cell alignment feature to position the seeded cells on the same initial location, so that the cells' motilities can be analyzed based on their locations at the end of the experiment after the cells have migrated. We show that the device was able to assess cancer cell motility after treatment with a migration inhibitory drug Indole-3-carbinol on MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, demonstrating the applicability of our device in screening anti-cancer drug compounds on cancer cells.

A tracking algorithm for cell motility assays in CMOS systems

“…The iterative process results in the four mass centers related to each ff, allowing the calculation of the center of mass for the whole set corresponding to the cm of the cell. (5) To verify that the result is correct, the system is feedback. The percentage of area occupied by the obtained cell (fffb) is calculated, and compared with the original ffs.…”

“…ECIS technique [3] is a well-established technique that allows the automatization in cell culture research based on impedance measurements done on the cell attachment performance, to obtain cell properties, cell index, etc. [4,5]. ECIS techniques represent a non-invasive method for real time cell monitoring to study cell properties: cell adhesion, motility, drug assays, cell growing, etc.…”

A CMOS Tracking System Approach for Cell Motility Assays

“…(Grimnes, 2008, Yeh, 2015. ECIS techniques represent a non-invasive method for real time monitoring of cells and definition of cell properties: cell adhesion, motility, drug assays test, cell growing, etc.…”