Triglyceride

Cell invasion assay plays an important role in the studies of cell behaviors and assessment of the metastatic potential of tumor cells. Among the various cell invasion assays, transwell invasion assay is easily used and widely applied, such as human trophoblast, melanoma and colon cancer invasion. In transwell invasion assay, two medium containing chambers separated by a porous membrane. The porous filter is blocked by a gel composed of the extracellular matrix (ECM) that is meant to mimic the typical matrices during the invasion process in vivo to block the pore in the membrane. The ECM can occlude the membrane pores and invasive cells can degrade the matrix and move through the ECM layer, whereas the non-invasive cells will be blocked from migrating through the ECM layer. The cells are placed on one side of the gel and a chemoattractant is placed on the other side of the gel. We can determine the invasion by counting the cells that have traversed the cell-permeable membrane having invaded towards the higher concentration of chemoattractant.