Gelatin degradation assay

Gelatin degradation assay allows visualizing and quantifying invasion at the subcellular level instead of analyzing the invasive behavior of whole cells. This technique is of high resolution and can discover cellular protrusions called invadopodia and podosomes, which are protrusive structures in cancer cells and play an important role in cell attachment and remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM). These structures also contribute to the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells, thus the study of these cellular protrusions can lead to a valuable insight to the research of cell invasion. Gelatin degradation assay makes it possible to assess and quantify these cellular protrusions and is crucial in the study of cell invasion.