Podosome reformation in macrophages: assays and analysis

Podosomes are multifunctional organelles of invasive cells that combine several key abilities including cell-matrix adhesion, extracellular matrix degradation, and mechanosensing. In combination with their high turnover rates that allow quick adaptation to the pericellular environment, podosomes are likely to play important roles during invasive migration of cells. Primary human macrophages constitutively form numerous podosomes and are thus an ideal system for the quantitative study of podosome dynamics. This protocol describes assays for the study of podosome dynamics, namely, reformation of podosomes, in fixed and living cells, with subsequent software-based analyses allowing the extraction of quantitative parameters such as the number of podosomes per cell, podosome density, and half times for podosome disruption and reformation. Moreover, we describe the preparation of podosome-enriched cell fractions and their analysis by immunoblotting.