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Updated: May 3, 2026
Assessing Retinal Microglial Phagocytic Function In Vivo Using a Flow Cytometry-based Assay
Published on: October 18, 2016
Analysis of microglial migration by a micropipette assay
Hang-jun Wu1, Yi-jun Liu2, Hui-quan Li2
11] Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Photonics of The Ministry of Education, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. [2] Department of Neurobiology, The Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, The Ministry of Health of China, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
Abstract:
Microglial cells have important roles in maintaining brain homeostasis, and they are implicated in multiple brain diseases. There is currently interest in investigating microglial migration that results in cell accumulation at focal sites of injury. Here we describe a protocol for rapidly triggering and monitoring microglial migration by using a micropipette assay. This protocol is an adaptation of the axon turning assay using microglial cells. Chemoattractants released from the micropipette tip produce a chemotactic gradient that induces robust microglial migration. In combination with microscopic imaging, this assay allows simultaneous recording of cell movement and subcellular compartment trafficking, along with quantitative analysis. The actual handling time for the assay takes ∼2-3 h in total. The protocol is simple, inexpensive and convenient to set up, and it can be adopted to examine cell migration in multiple cell types, including cancer cells with a wide range of chemical signals.
