ThinCert® cell culture inserts are produced from high-grade clear polystyrene housings, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) capillary pore membranes. Both materials, polystyrene and PET, are USP class VI certified and cell culture compatible. The coupling between the housing and the membrane is achieved using an automated process which produces an extremely strong and robust seal without compromising or weakening the membrane in any way. The membranes undergo a physical surface treatment to optimise cellular adherence and growth characteristics. All the capillary pores in a membrane exhibit a high degree of uniformity in diameter. This uniformity ensures reliable and consistent exchange rates between the two compartments and thus provides reproducibility when conducting multiple experiments.
Which Membrane to use?
General Aspects:
- Small pore sizes (0.4 and 1 μm in diameter) for co-cultivation as well as for transportation, secretion, and diffusion studies
- Larger pore sizes (3 and 8 μm in diameter) for migration and invasion studies
- Transparent membranes (in general low pore density) suitable for light and electron microscopy not suited for all applications requiring high diffusion rates such as transport studies
- Translucent membranes (in general high pore density) suitable for electron microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, confocal microscopy, TEER and transport studies