Toxicity assays - Barrier function
4 important questions on Toxicity assays - Barrier function
How to measure barrier functions?
- permeability of tracer molecules
- electrical based assays
- Dilution potentials (ion selectivity)
How do the electrical resistance assays work?
- Meet de weerstand van ionen die door de cellagen willen stromen.
- Hoge TEER = strakke barriere
- Lage TEER = slechte barriere.
- Measure of both trans and cellular pathways, but mostly paracellular in leaky epithelium.
- Tight junctions regulate the paracellular pathway – GATE function.
Beside electrical resistance you can also measure something else. What? What type of machine?
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In general what are important to remember when using experiments (4)
- Use more than one assay from different biological angles and compare.
- Use appropriate controls
- Where possible have 2 concentrations in the bottom and top saturation ranges
- Know which functions for which calcs – eg EC50. and always check the curves manually
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