How can I retrieve/harvest cells or spheroids from a collagen hydrogel?

To retrieve cells or spheroids from a collagen hydrogel for further processing, you can try the following two approaches:

• Enzymatic gel digestion: Degradation of any gel with an appropriate enzyme
  Example: Degradation of the Collagen Type I, Rat Tail gel with Collagenase NB 4 (Standard Grade, Serva, Cat-No.17454.02), see the Collagen Type I, Rat Tail Instructions (PDF).
• Mechanical retrieval of spheroids: In contrast to agarose gels, collagen hydrogels are not 'solid'. This enables 'destroying' the gel structure by pipetting the gel up and down several times to retrieve a spheroid, for example.

Please note that we have not tested either approach at ibidi. You should try in a preliminary experiment what works best for your application.

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