Abstract
In vitro cell culture experiments are widely used to study cellular
behavior in most biological research fields. Except for suspension
cells, most human cell types are cultured as adherent monolayers on a
plastic surface. While technically convenient, monolayer cultures can
suffer from limitations in terms of physiological relevance, as their
resemblance to complex in vivo tissue structures is limited. To address
these limitations, three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems have
gained increased interest as they mimic key structural and functional
properties of their in vivo tissue counterparts. Nevertheless, protocols
established on monolayer cell cultures may require adjustments if they
are to be applied to 3D cell cultures. As gene expression quantification
is an essential part of many in vitro experiments, we evaluated and
optimized a direct cell lysis, reverse transcription and qPCR protocol
applicable for 3D cell cultures. The newly developed protocol wherein
gene expression is determined directly from crude cell lysates showed
improved cell lysis compared to the standard protocol, accurate gene
expression quantification, hereby avoiding time-consuming cell
harvesting and RNA extraction.