New technology for investigating trophoblast function

Trophoblast growth curves. Growth curves for A) HTR8/SVneo and B) SGHPL-4 generated by plating cells at densities from 1250 to 40,000 cells/well as indicated and monitoring over 72 h. Annotations represent (i) cell attachment, (ii) lag phase and (iii) log phase.

Trophoblast proliferation, adhesion, migration and invasion in response to CCL2 measured with the xCELLigence System. HTR8/SVneo cells were plated at 40,000/well and monitored as described over 60 h. Shown are the Cell Index curves for A) proliferation, B) adhesion, C) migration and D) invasion. Negative control (open circles), CCL2 (20 ng/ml; closed circles), positive control (10% FCS; open squares). Data shown is the mean ± SEM from n ≥ 3 independent experiments with n ≥ 2 replicates in each.

Comparison of conventional assays to the xCELLigence System. HTR8/SVneo cells were stimulated with CCL2 (20 ng/ml) for the times indicated, and measurements made as described using either conventional assays (A–C) or the xCELLigence System (D–F). A and D) proliferation, B) migration, C) invasive potential (MMP 9 activity), E) rate of migration F) rate of invasion. Negative control (open bars), CCL2 (20 ng/ml; grey bars), positive control (10% FCS; hatched bars). The dotted line in (A) shows cell number at t = 0 h. Data shown is the mean ± SEM from n ≥ 3 independent experiments, *p < 0.05.