ibidi TIP

For more than 500 scientific publications using the ECIS technology please visit www.biophysics.com.

Measurement of Metastatic Potential

Impedance Measurements

Given that the ECIS System easily detects alterations in the endothelial cell layer, these changes can be monitored to look for correlations between changes in impedance and the metastatic potential of cancer cells.

Experimental Example: The Dunning Prostatic Adenocarcinoma Series

Metastatic cell lines were added to a confluent HUVEC (Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells) cell layer, which resulted in a sig­nificant loss of resistance. This loss of resistance was due to the endothelial cell layer’s loss of integrity in response to the activities of the cancer cells. As a control, the same metastatic cells were heat killed (by keeping them 15 minutes at 56 °C) before adding them to another confluent HUVEC cell layer. No changes in resis­tance were detected in this instance, thus verifying that the assay was indeed perceiving biological activities.

Results:
Cell Line G – weakly metastatic
Cell Line AT3 – highly metastatic

Appropriate electrode arrays for the measurement of metastatic potential could be:

8 well format:

  • 8W10E and 8W10E PCB
  • 8W10E+ and 8W10E+ PCB 

96 well format:

  • 96W10E

Optical Measurements

After adding metastatic cell lines to confluent cell layers, optical measurements under flow conditions are easily performed using any ibidi μ-Slide (e.g., μ-Slide I Luer) in conjunction with the ibidi Pump System.