Study of cell migration in microfabricated channels

The method described here allows the study of cell migration under confinement in one dimension. It is based on the use of microfabricated channels, which impose a polarized phenotype to cells by physical constraints. Once inside channels, cells have only two possibilities: move forward or backward. This simplified migration in which directionality is restricted facilitates the automatic tracking of cells and the extraction of quantitative parameters to describe cell movement. These parameters include cell velocity, changes in direction, and pauses during motion. Microchannels are also compatible with the use of fluorescent markers and are therefore suitable to study localization of intracellular organelles and structures during cell migration at high resolution. Finally, the surface of the channels can be functionalized with different substrates, allowing the control of the adhesive properties of the channels or the study of haptotaxis. In summary, the system here described is intended to analyze the migration of large cell numbers in conditions in which both the geometry and the biochemical nature of the environment are controlled, facilitating the normalization and reproducibility of independent experiments.