细胞功能测定

The use of fluorescent tags for in vivo tracking of proteins has provided an array of new data on cell function. Correspondingly, a variety of new methods utilizing these fluorescent tags have been developed. These methods must take into account all of the concerns of keeping live samples in condit ...

We present a microfabricated chamber designed for visualising and quantifying the chemotaxis of slow-migrating adherent mammalian cells such as cancer and endothelial cells. Most of the existing solutions for the investigation of chemotaxis are limited to fast migrating cells su ...

Invasive cell migration is critical for leukocyte trafficking into tissues. Podosomes are matrix-degrading adhesive structures that are formed by macrophages and are necessary for macrophage migration and invasion. Here, we describe methods for imaging and quantifying podos ...

The need to identify inhibitors of cancer invasion has driven the development of quantitative in vitro invasion assays. The most common assays used are based on the original Boyden assay system. Today commercially available plastic inserts for multi-well plates, which possess a cell-pe ...

The Boyden chamber, initially designed to study leukocyte chemotaxis, has become one of the most used tools to assess cell motility and invasion. The classical Boyden chamber consists of two compartments separated by a membrane representing a physical barrier that cells can overcome only ...

The neuronal growth cone, a highly motile structure at the tip of neuronal processes, is an excellent model system for studying directional cell movements. While biochemical and genetic approaches unveiled molecular interactions between ligand, receptor, signaling, and cytoske ...

Much of what is known about the mechanisms regulating cell adhesion and migration come from in vitro studies of cells plated on 2-dimensional (2D) extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. The importance of studying these processes in cells within 3-dimensional (3D) environments is becoming ...

The directed migration of cells (chemotaxis) occurs not only during wound healing and inflammatory responses but also during embryonic development. However, the intracellular signaling pathways that enable a cell to detect a chemoattractant and subsequently migrate toward the ...

Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a multi-stage process whereby epithelial cells lose their cell:cell adhesions and acquire the capacity to migrate independently. It is a process that is important in normal development and is thought to be adopted by some invasive cancer cells. ...

Islet transplantation is a widely accepted and practiced cell replacement therapy for treatment of diabetes. However, scarcity of suitable cadaveric pancreas donors is a major limitation that restricts the availability of this therapy to millions of diabetic individuals worldw ...

Stem cells are of outstanding interest for a variety of applications in regenerative medicine. The identification and characterization of novel tissue sources in order to reduce donor site morbidity and to provide specific cells in clinically applicable numbers have led to the detect ...

We recently found that human glomeruli deprived of the Bowman’s capsule contain a population of CD133−CD146+ cells that coexpress the typical mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) markers (such as CD29, CD105, and CD73) and renal specific stem cell markers (such us CD24 and Pax2). This population exhi ...

The epithelial (keratinocyte) stem cells locating at the bulge region of hair follicles have been reported to possess high proliferative capacity in vitro and multipotency to repopulate hair follicles, sebaceous glands, and the epidermis, indicating the importance of those cells for ...

Vessel wall-derived somatic endothelial colony-forming progenitor cells (ECFCs) are key players in vascular homeostasis and regeneration. Due to their robust proliferative potential and profound vessel-forming capacity, ECFCs are considered to represent an attractive t ...

Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) can be found within the “cell rich zone” of the dental pulp. Their embryonic origin, from neural crests, explains their multipotency. Up to now, it has been demonstrated that these cells are capable of producing bone tissue, both in vitro and in vivo, as well as a simil-dentin ti ...

Isolation of progenitor cell population is the first step in performing stem cell research. Progenitors isolated using different methods usually exhibit different characteristics and varied differentiation potentials. Here, we describe a method for isolation of the multipo ...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are currently considered the most promising type of adult stem cells for therapeutic applications, because they can be easily isolated from the bone marrow and other tissues, and manipulated for different applications. The genetic transformation of MSC us ...

Human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) play a crucial role in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and thus have important clinical potential for cell-based therapy. However, the limited cell number and the difficulty in detecting these cells in vivo have restricted many hMSC ...

Stem cells are known by their capacity of self-renewal and differentiation into at least one specialized cell type. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were isolated initially from bone marrow but are now known to exist in any vascularized organ or tissue in adults. MSCs have a great therapeutic poten ...

The hematopoietic stem cells that are present in bone marrow and umbilical cord blood are promising materials for in vitro production of red blood cells (RBCs). In particular, umbilical cord blood cells are likely to be readily available since they are generally discarded after parturition. ...