Roche Applied Science Launches the E-Plate Insert for Analysis of Cell-Cell Interactions using the xCELLigence System

PENZBERG, Germany, June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

The co-cultivation of two different cell types is an important way to investigate cell-cell interactions and communication.

Co-cultivation can be used in a wide variety of applications, including cell signalling and toxicology testing. A key goal in drug discovery is to identify how to most effectively monitor cell-cell interactions when cells show pathology. Roche Applied Science is now providing the new E-Plate Insert 16 and E-Plate Insert 96, permitting continual impedance-based monitoring of indirect cell-cell interactions/communication using xCELLigence Instruments.

In a recent study at the INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier (Laval, Quebec, Canada) the E-Plate Insert had been used to test the behaviour of BeWo human placental choriocarcinoma cells in co-culture with H295R human adrenocortical carcinoma cells. "Using the E-Plate Insert in our co-culture experiments requires fewer manipulations and allows us to perform several experiments simultaneously - hormone measurements, signalling pathway analysis, real-time monitoring of biochemical and morphological differentiation of the cells," summarized Prof. Thomas Sanderson and Prof. Cathy Vaillancourt, who are co-investigators on this project and co-supervisors of Andrée-Anne Hudon Thibeault, the Masters student who realised the study.  The Canadian group plans to use the unique abilities of the co-culture-compatible E-Plate Insert and xCELLigence cell response monitoring technology, to determine the effect of co-culture on primary villous trophoblast homeostasis (polarization, differentiation/syncytialization, fusion, apoptosis) and on H295R cells (proliferation, viability, apoptosis) as well as expression and activity levels of key placental and fetal adrenal steroidogenic enzymes.

The membrane-containing E-Plate Inserts enable sensitive, reproducible measurement of indirect cell-to-cell interactions in real-time, and in a label-free environment using the xCELLigence Instruments (RTCA DP, SP, and MP Analyzers). Combined with microscopy-compatible E-Plates VIEW, E-Plate Inserts 16 and 96 are available for low to high throughput applications. Impedance-based measurements are particularly advantageous when co-culturing cells for pinpointing when and how cells respond to each other, thus identifying the best time points for further experiments.

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world's largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and central nervous system (CNS). Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche's personalized healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2011, Roche had over 80,000 employees worldwide and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 42.5 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information: http://www.roche.com.

XCELLIGENCE is a trademark of Roche.

E-PLATE and ACEA BIOSCIENCES are registered trademarks of ACEA Biosciences, Inc. in the US.

For life science research only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures

For further information please contact:
Roche Diagnostics
Dr. Burkhard Ziebolz
Phone: +49 8856 604830
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Roche Diagnostics GmbH