Unveiling the Characteristics of Matrigel Products

It is widely known that Matrigel has extensive applications, whether in tumor formation, tube formation, stem cell encapsulation, or organoid culture, Matrigel is an indispensable assistant. However, Matrigel also has a "quirky temperament." If you are not careful, it will gel on you and stubbornly "refuse to work." Therefore, let's discuss the "quirky temperaments" of Matrigel!

 

1. The melting time is very short and it is overly "sensitive" to high temperatures

 

Some colleagues place Matrigel on an ice pack to melt it, with the ice pack placed inside a laminar flow hood, and find that after half an hour, the Matrigel has gelled. Yes, why is that?

 

If Matrigel is not fully submerged in ice and half of it is exposed to the air, its melting time is very short, usually no more than 30 minutes on ice to completely liquefy, especially in hot summer. The exposed half can quickly gel due to the high temperature. Therefore, the best method for melting Matrigel is to leave it in a 4°C refrigerator overnight.

 

2. When Matrigel accidentally gels, it refuses to "work" on the same day

 

After accidentally allowing Matrigel to gel, methods such as using ice-water mixtures to cool, placing it at 4°C for 2 hours, or placing it at -20°C for 10 minutes, all fail to "revive" the Matrigel. It remains gelled and "unresponsive." Yes, this is the "quirky temperament" of Matrigel, "ignoring" people. The correct approach is to first place it at -20°C for 2 hours to enter "hibernation," then leave it in a 4°C refrigerator overnight. By the next day, it will become "fluid" again because it "cools down" quite slowly.

 

3. Can Matrigel be repeatedly frozen and thawed? What if it is not fully used?

 

Repeated freezing and thawing of Matrigel will reduce its fluidity. If not fully used, it can be aliquoted into EP tubes for storage. To minimize repeated freeze-thaw cycles, we offer 1.5 mL × 4 packs of Matrigel (abs9495). Each tube can be thawed overnight at 4°C when needed. If a tube is not fully used, it can be stored at 4°C for up to 1 month while maintaining good fluidity.

 

4. What if bubbles are found after Matrigel melts or during use?

 

Matrigel is rich in various proteins and has high viscosity. The "bubble formation" phenomenon mainly occurs due to reduced fluidity. If bubbles appear, they can be effectively removed by centrifuging at 2000 rpm for 1 minute using a benchtop centrifuge.

 

5. How to prevent Matrigel from gelling quickly during organoid culture?

 

Using a metal ice pack is more effective. Before dispensing the gel, place the ice pack, pipette tips, centrifuge tubes, and EP tubes at -20°C for more than 1 hour. That is, all items that come into contact with Matrigel (except for the culture plate) should be thoroughly pre-cooled to effectively prevent gelling.

 

6. What if Matrigel and organoid cannot be separated during passaging?

 

First, we can take some effective measures to promote separation:

1) Add an appropriate amount (10-14 mL) of buffer to dilute the Matrigel-organoid mixture, which can promote separation;

2) Place the Matrigel-organoid mixture at -20°C for 5 minutes to accelerate Matrigel liquefaction, which can promote separation; or leave it at 4°C for 40 minutes to liquefy the Matrigel;

3) The choice of centrifuge is very important. A horizontal angle centrifuge is more effective for separating Matrigel and organoids compared to a fixed-angle centrifuge;

4) The temperature of the centrifuge should ideally be 4°C (to prevent Matrigel from gelling), the centrifugation speed can be appropriately increased (not exceeding 500g), and the centrifugation time can be extended (up to a maximum of 10 minutes).

 

Second, if the above measures are taken and there is still a small amount of residual Matrigel, what should we do?

Don't panic. As shown in the figure below, you can see that the Matrigel and cell clusters are mixed together (the white dots in the Matrigel are cell clusters). At this point, we can discard the upper 1/3 of the buffer and Matrigel mixture, retain the lower 2/3 of the Matrigel-cell cluster suspension, and add new gel to mix and plate.

 

7. Matrigel has diverse applications, and different types of Matrigel have different uses, as shown in the table below:

 

Catalog No.	Product Name	Specification	Application
abs9490	Standard OrganoGel with Phenol red	1.5mL×4	Organoid culture; Cell invasion; Cell migration
abs9491	Standard OrganoGel Phenol red free	1.5mL×8
abs9492	HC OrganoGel with Phenol red	1.5mL×8	Subcutaneous tumor formation in mice; Angiogenesis; Gel embolization
abs9493	HC OrganoGel Phenol red free	1.5mL×4
abs9494	GFR OrganoGel with Phenol red	1.5mL×4	Organoid culture; Studies related to growth factors and signaling pathways
abs9495	GFR OrganoGel Phenol red free	1.5mL×4
abs9497	HC&GFR OrganoGel with Phenol red	1.5mL×8	Subcutaneous tumor formation in mice; Angiogenesis; Gel embolization; Studies related to growth factors and signaling pathways
abs9498	HC&GFR OrganoGel Phenol red free	1.5mL×8
abs9496	IPS-qualified OrganoGel Phenol red free	1.5mL×4	Coating of culture plates, suitable for the expansion and maintenance of human embryonic stem cells (hES) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS)
abs9410	Ready-to-Use Matrigel	100mL	Coating of culture plates, suitable for the expansion and maintenance of adherent-deficient cells (e.g., 293T, HUVEC)

 

 

Absin provides antibodies, proteins, ELISA kits, cell culture, detection kits, and other research reagents. If you have any product needs, please contact us

Absin Bioscience Inc. Email: worldwide@absin.cn

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