User:
Pepper Schedin, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver
Project:
Relating life-cycle stages (such as pregnancy, lactation, and menopause) in the mammary gland stroma to tumor dormancy and progression
Problem:
Like Cukierman, Schedin looks at interactions of different ECMs with tumors. Schedin, though, extracts ECM from whole tissue; here, the resulting solution is too dilute to polymerize on its own - about 1/10 to 1/20th the concentration of Matrigel. Protocols to concentrate the ECM end up concentrating cellular contaminants along with it.
Solution:
Mixing the extracted ECM solutions 1:1 (volume to volume) with Matrigel allows the solution to polymerize.
While the resulting 3-D scaffold on which tumor cells are cultured is not the pure ECM they would see in vivo, for her experiments Schedin doesn't worry about the effects of the Matrigel itself. Matrigel "essentially becomes an even background" against which the effects of using ECM isolated from virgin, ...
