I am trying to decide between using Geltrex and Matrigel for an angiogenesis experiment I am running. Most of the rat aortic ring assays that I have come across use Matrigel (though a couple have used Geltrex). However, Matrigel comes in 5 ml as the smallest volume that Corning sell and costs $214.47 but I need < 1 ml. Geltrex on the other hand comes as 1 ml units, and is $ 57.00 . I did find this paper that did compare Geltrex with Matrigel as a substrate for growing iPSCs, and Geltrex looks like a good product in that it had more viable cells than Matrigel.
Article Efficient Generation of Rat Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells U...
I've never worked with either of these materials before. Before I order the Geltrex, I wanted to ask if anyone has experience with these, and what you would recommend?
Given the vast experience with Matrigel I would use that despite the cost. Geltex is different and may not work as well in all applications.
Hi Adam, I haven't tried Geltrex, but I did do a little literature research on Matrigel because I use it so often. Here's the short summary (attached) in case it adds some info to your decision making. Check out the quote from Hynda Kleinman, co-inventor of MG at the bottom. She is pretty surprised we're all still using it too haha. I fall in the same boat as Terrance in that I'm concerned about how the change would affect my ability to reference my outcomes against past work and that of others who are still using MG. Nothing ventured nothing gained though, so at some point I'll try some Geltrex.
In a HUVEC tube formation assay using the same number of cells, I observed similar treatment change and direction for both matrices. The level of branching and sprouting were not comparable, making matrigel a better option if you are hoping to compare results with literature evidence Alternatively, you can consistently use either of them.
I am not sure if the observation adds any more to the answers above.
Hi! I haven't used Geltrex/Matrigel for your assays, but have used Matrigel for tubulogenesis and currently use GelTrex for iPSC cultures. Matrigel works really nicely for tubulogenesis, and GelTrex has been really good for maintaining iPSC cultures.
I've used both basement membranes for haematopoeitic differentiations and was very surprised by the difference in result - GelTrex is very poor at supporting differentiation into haemogenic endothelium. I'm not sure this is a help - but I've found you can't really use them interchangeably becase of this. We share space with an angiogenesis lab where they use Matrigel quite a lot. Good luck!
From my experience with using both matrigel and Geltrex, they are interchangeable as long as you use similar protein concentrations per area. It seems that most peoples' failure with either one is due to using a standard dilution without making any adjustment for protein concentration. Both should be distributed by mass per surface area, not some standard dilution factor.
I prefer to use Geltrex simply because it has demonstrated significantly less lot to lot variation--with the exception of one lot that was a dismal failure on the part of the manufacturer.
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