title: Research Techniques Made Simple: Analysis of Collective Cell Migration Using the Wound Healing Assay.
abstract: Collective cell migration is a hallmark of wound repair, cancer invasion and metastasis, immune responses, angiogenesis, and embryonic morphogenesis. Wound healing is a complex cellular and biochemical process necessary to restore structurally damaged tissue. It involves dynamic interactions and crosstalk between various cell types, interaction with extracellular matrix molecules, and regulated production of soluble mediators and cytokines. In cutaneous wound healing, skin cells migrate from the wound edges into the wound to restore skin integrity. Analysis of cell migration in vitro is a useful assay to quantify alterations in cell migratory capacity in response to experimental manipulations. Although several methods exist to study cell migration (such as Boyden chamber assay, barrier assays, and microfluidics-based assays), in this short report we will explain the wound healing assay, also known as the "in vitro scratch assay" as a simple, versatile, and cost-effective method to study collective cell migration and wound healing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Electronic address: Grada@bu.edu.
authors.forename: Ayman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grada
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Systems Biology, The Tissue Repair and Regeneration Laboratory, Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya, Vic, Spain.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Otero-Vinas
authors.affiliation: MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Prieto-Castrillo
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Zaidal
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Obagi
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Biochemistry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Falanga
mesh_terms: D002465:Cell Movement; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology; D014945:Wound Healing