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CTAS: a novel low‐cost capillary‐based cell and tissue acquisition system
Author(s) -
Kudo Lili,
Fields Tony,
Bragin Anatol,
Karsten Stanislav L.,
Vi Nancy
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.lb452
Subject(s) - laser capture microdissection , microdissection , cell sorting , computational biology , zebrafish , cell , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , cell type , gene , gene expression , genetics
Heterogeneity in tissue samples and cell cultures is a limiting factor that hinders sound cell‐specific molecular studies of disease and health both for gene expression and proteomic analyses. Tissue microdissection and cell sorting technologies have advanced in the last decade from manual dissection to sophisticated but costly laser capture microdissection (LCM) instruments and high speed fluorescence assisted cell sorting systems (FACS). We have developed a low‐cost user‐friendly microdissection device that offers similar capabilities to LCM and FACS. This instrument is a novel capillary‐based vacuum‐assisted cell and tissue acquisition system (CTAS). CTAS is attached to an inverted microscope, and offers a way to dissect tissues and cell cultures at a cellular resolution. RNA and protein isolated from cells harvested with CTAS are of high quality fit for downstream applications, such as microarrays and Western blots. Further, cells collected using CTAS are viable, and can be used for cell cultures. CTAS is currently a fully functional prototype that has demonstrated its capabilities in the central nervous system samples, i.e. spinal cord and brain. This instrument can be applied for the collection of cells from various tissues, and is able to do so more cost effectively than the existing technology of LCM and FACS. This work was supported by NIH Grant RR024059‐01 (LCK).