I would like to culture together different cells but have a physical barrier that prevents cell mixing while factors cross through. tnx so much
Hi,
Ajit is right, we tested Transwell system and it works really nice. If you want, however, to test an effect of soluble agents, you can also collect conditioned media from one culture and then apply them to the another one.
Regards
There are multiple options out there can do the job as you described but it's hard to recommend one as you did not mention what cell types or what kind of readouts you need . Like others have mentioned, transwell may be an option but you can take a look at this paper that describes an assay that may fit your need perfectly.
http://www.nature.com/nprot/journal/v7/n7/full/nprot.2012.051.html
In this assay, multiple cell types can be co-cultured within a microfluidic chip either on the 2D substrate or within a 3D hydrogel of your choice. Simply put, you can compartmentalize your cells in a way that is meaningful to your experiment. The cells can communicate through extracellular signalling and the chemical gradient can be set up. It also offers unparalleled advantage in imaging as compared to conventional transwell assay as you can monitor the cell-cell interaction in real time and it's also compatible with various imaging techniques (including phase contrast, epi-fluorescent and confocal microscopy).
Should you concern about the availability of this assay, the good news is it's just being commercialized from the lab. Let me know if you have more questions!
http://www.nature.com/nprot/journal/v7/n7/full/nprot.2012.051.html
First try Transwells- use the 0.33cm size- in a 24 well plate. It also depends on your readout from the cells grown on the bottom of the Transwell- i.e. fluorescence, WB, ELISA or what. Organotrophic (3D) is also great but again is contingent on how you are reading the effect of one cell type vs the added cell type.
Ibidi has products designed specifically for co-cultivation as well.
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