Impedance-Based Measurements of Brain Cancer Cell Invasion

Take a cell invasion and migration plate containing upper and lower chambers.

The upper chamber contains a microporous membrane with an impedance-measuring gold microelectrode array on its bottom. Coat the membrane with an extracellular matrix or ECM solution. 

Fill the lower chamber with high-serum media.

Then, add low-serum media to the upper chamber and incubate to acclimate to culture conditions.

Apply a weak electrical potential across the microelectrodes to measure the baseline impedance.

Seed brain cancer cells in the upper chamber and allow them to settle on the ECM. 

The high-serum media acts as a chemoattractant, guiding the cells’ movement toward it. 

The cells secrete proteases that degrade the ECM, enabling their movement through the membrane pores toward the chemoattractant.

As the cells migrate, they adhere to the microelectrodes, increasing cellular impedance.

Over time, more cells migrate and attach to the microelectrodes, further increasing cellular impedance, which reflects the invasive potential of these cells.