Chemotaxis Assay, Springer Lab. A chemotaxis assay's function is to assess whether a factor or molecule of interest has chemotactic activity on a motile cell type. Chemotaxis is the ability of a factor to cause the migration of a cell. The chemotactic assay is based on the creation of a chemical gradient of the chemotactic agent which will cause cells to migrate through the gradient towards the chemotactic agent. - [Read Chemotaxis Assay]
This chemotaxis assay protocol is based on the premise of creating a gradient of the chemotactic agent and allowing cells to migrate through a membrane towards the chemotactic agent. A chemotaxis assay can determine whether your protein or small molecule of interest has chemotactic activity on a specific cell type. Chemotaxis is then the ability of a protein to direct the migration of a specific cell. - [Read Chemotaxis Assay Protocol]
In the routine method described in this protocol, chylomicron-free plasma is adjusted to 12% (w/v) iodixanol and the sample, essentially fills an approx 3 ml tube for a near-vertical rotor. During the centrifugation VLDL, LDL and HDL particles and also plasma proteins migrate from all parts of the sample to their final buoyant density banding position in the self-forming density gradient. - [Read Subfractionation of Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL)]