Well, in chemotaxis/motility studies the reccomended pore diameter spans from 3-8 microns. However, the best way to assess the fittest pore size, is to test the different sizes with your cell line of interest and see to which size your cells respond best.

Cells that respond well to chemotactic signals will pass through the pores and their soma diameter will not be an issue, cause cells with good migration properties are rather flexible and will "squeeze" their way through the pores.

Thank you for your suggestion, there is no specific pore size according to cell types ? i have to test these cells in ranges of pore sizes and come to conclusion which works the best? there is no other way?

Well, there are not specific tables relating pore size with cell types, at least not that I aknowledge. In our experience, fine tuning comes with trial. Different range of pores and cell numbers should lead you to the desirable result.

When I carried out co-culture experiments between neural stem cells and astrocytes, I obtained magnific results working with 0.4 um transwell, because this diameter allow the exchange of soluble factors.

Kavina, you name in your question, both co-culture and cell migration. As Mireia points out, if you only want to allow the exchange of soluble factors between your co-cultured cells, the 0.4 um pores are of the ideal size; but if you also want to allow the cells to migrate between the chambers, then 0.4 um is a very small pore size. In that case a 3 um pore size membrane would be more suitable. Everything depends on your experimental design, from the level of interaction you want to obtain between your cells, to the type of interaction between the cells and the matrix or substrate, or also to the importance you give to transport and permeability of the different soluble factors between the chambers/ cell cultures.

Hi, Kavina! Like Stavros said, you need to define if the cell-cell contact is a study variable in your research. If yes, you could perform the assays using transwell inserts (mostly used for migration assays) or growth the neuron directly on the astrocytes. If you want to discover what side/ direction the cell “prefer” to migrate, there are specific chambers for this (in this way we are talking about chemotaxis, a directed migration). If you don’t want cell migration (and consequently cell contact), you could use specific chambers for this with small pores (and not transwell inserts). If you want to investigate the cell migration, consider that immature neurons are smaller than astrocytes or mesenchymal cells and this last one is more movable than another. If you want to study a co-culture configuration without contact and migration cell possibility, you still can try a dish that has an inner and outer well in the same dish (Sorry, I forgot the name of this dish…). The medium of inner and outer wells are in contact but the cells not. I hope you find a good design for answer your experimental questions! Good Luck!

Thank you all for all these information it was very helpful for me to decide on how and what to do ? i really appreciate your help.

Hello, Tais Adelita, I am looking for the dish you mentioned in the answer earlier: " If you want to study a co-culture configuration without contact and migration cell possibility, you still can try a dish that has an inner and outer well in the same dish (Sorry, I forgot the name of this dish…). The medium of inner and outer wells are in contact but the cells not". Can you please tell me in detail or provide me the catalog No of the dish? It will be a great help. Thank you in advance.

Dear Lalita Subedi

It was a long time ago and I don't have access to this material anymore to check the product reference... But by eye, it looked somehow like that:

https://www.fishersci.no/shop/products/falcon-in-vitro-fertilization-plasticware-round-plates-2/10011081

https://www.fishersci.no/shop/products/falcon-organ-culture-dish/10049210

https://www.fishersci.no/shop/products/corning-60mm-center-well-culture-dish/10490472

I hope it is helpful. And as I said, it was a long time ago. I would expect that, nowadays, the market has more options. In a quick search, I found this company here: http://revivocell.com/. It might be useful as well.

Good luck!

Dear Tais Adelita,

Thank you for all this information, These are definitely helpful for me. Thank you for your efforts even after such a long gap.

I really appreciate that.

Thank you very much

Hi Lalita. I know cellqart offers different kinds of cell inserts (in terms of pore size, optic properties, plate format, etc). Maybe you can check them out/ask for a sample. Good luck with your experiments!