US and international patents pending

MCI, Microfluid Neuronal Culture Insert

Generating robust cell cultures and co-cultures easily. Especially powerful for primary neuronal cultures and co-cultures. PLL/collagen coated, optically clear, sterile, ready to use... 

MCI is designed for primary neuron cultures. Significant improvement can be expected if you have experienced difficulties in primary neuronal cultures, such as primary cortical, hippocampal, and hypothalamic neurons.  

The handling of the MCI is easy and convenient:

It keeps your working habit of using multi-well plates for cell cultures. Each unit of MCI can be placed into, and detached from, wells of multi-well plates.

You will still perform desired procedures the same way as usual, such as viewing and imaging live neurons, changing culture medium, performing neuron transfections, trypsinizing and harvesting cells, fixing neurons and IHC, or mounting cultured neurons on slides after staining.

Why MCI can solve your problems?

Serious problems occur in most traditional primary culture systems. For instance, conditioned culture medium is essential to many cell types for optimal growth and responsiveness, but typical large volumes of culture medium dilute the concentrations of secreted cell factors and thus significantly slow down and de-potentiate the life events of the cells in culture. In contrast with in vivo environments, free bulk flow of culture liquid perturbs local chemical gradients, which may impair signaling and disturb cell behaviors. Resulting assay data may be weak, excessively variable and potentially misleading.

The Solution:

Using micro-fluidic design and engineering strategies, Biokeystone has developed MCI, a new model for cell culture technology. With MCI, the free flow of culture medium can be substantially eliminated, stabilizing local gradient profiles of factors secreted by cultured cells. At the same time, the volume of immobilized culture medium surrounding the cultured cells is reduced several hundred fold, which enables rapid accumulation of secreted factors to high levels, accelerating cell establishment, growth, differentiation, or maturation accordingly. If needed, cells can be cultured successfully at very low density. This innovative cell culturing system more nearly mimics in vivo conditions for effective cell signaling and responsiveness, unlike what one sees in traditional  culture systems.

Neuron culture accelerated in Microfluid neuronal culture insert, click to enlarge the cultured neuron

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Re-Think Cortical Neuron Transfection 

The Question:

It is well known that transfection of primary neurons is the hardest one among all kinds of cell types. Users are struggling with a variety of means aiming to overcome the difficulties of their challenged primary hypothalamus neuron transfections. Here is what you want to know:

The Problem:

Why the best neuron transfection reagents from the best companies used by the best laboratories have failed to gain the best neuron transfection result? 

The Cause:

Attentions have been wrongly focused!

Most of your patients, the tortured neurons, have died after your operation! 

Neuron transfection reagent plays ONLY a minor role in the success of your transfection!

With the Re-Think transfection technology, your neuron transfection results should be better than that of any methods you have tested.

The RTT Solution:

Biokeystone R&D division is developing the RTT technologies via system engineering approaches. The project is focusing on the patient, your hypothalamic neurons, instead of developing a stand alone box of transfection reagent or kit. The RTT technology will show you how to create energized primary neurons before transfection and how to regain their health rapidly after transfection so that the majority of your patient can survive your torture of external insertions. It means you will see a robust increase in your neuron transfection efficiency.

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Tips for culturing primary neurons in vitro:

Tip #1: Pay close attention to consistency of your primary neuronal cultures

Do you know that your effort of culturing neurons in vitro will gain NOTHING useful if you do not pay particular attention to maintain consistency in your operation. You should start with a very detailed protocol and follow the protocol without changing parameters, including the counts of your dissociated neuron cells, the platting area on cover glasses, the amount of Neurobasal medium, the schedule of culture medium change, the time length and frequency of observation of your neurons in culture, etc.

Tip #2: Use P1 instead of E18 for primary neuronal cultures

culturing neurons using E18 tissue is a labor-intensive problematical neuronal culture protocol, including checking plugs, lack of genotyping information, difficulties in precise tissue dissection, and the most importantly, unnecessary loss of animal life. neuVitro is the expert of using P1 tissue for all primary neuronal cultures, including protocols of cortical culture, hippocampal culture, hypothalamus culture, astrocyte culture, and motor neuron culture.

Tip #3: Do not shake your incubator while culturing primary neurons

In primary neuronal culture, we create a manmade situation with the hope that neuron cells can adapt and survive in artificial culture medium, then regain their life as normal. But did you know that a shaking of culture incubator can stop the growth of cultured neurons for a pretty long period of time? Irregular interruption can generate significant variation in your neuron culture data. To overcome this problem, neuVitro is developing special systems for culturing primary neurons for more stable and consistent outcome. Back