Boyden Chamber Assay

The Boyden chamber assay, originally introduced by Boyden for the analysis of leukocyte chemotaxis, is based on a chamber of two medium-filled compartments separated by a microporous membrane. In general, cells are placed in the upper compartment and are allowed to migrate through the pores of the membrane into the lower compartment, in which chemotactic agents are present. After an appropriate incubation time, the membrane between the two compartments is fixed and stained, and the number of cells that have migrated to the lower side of the membrane is determined. Therefore, the Boyden chamber-based cell migration assay has also been called filter membrane migration assay, trans-well migration assay, or chemotaxis assay. A number of different Boyden chamber devices are available commercially. The method described in this chapter is intended specifically for measuring the migration of Madin-Darby canine kidney cells using a 48-well chamber from Neuro Probe, Inc.