In biological laboratories, cell culture plates are essential basic equipment for cell culture, expansion, screening, and various detection experiments.

 

In biological laboratories, cell culture plates are essential basic equipment for cell culture, amplification, screening, and various detection experiments. Depending on the experimental requirements, the specifications, shapes, and material selection of cell culture plates have different effects. How to choose the right culture plate according to the cell type, experimental requirements, and culture method is the key to the smooth progress of the experiment. This article will introduce in detail the different types, characteristics, and how to choose the right culture plate for cell culture plates.

 

1. Understand the basic types of cell culture plates

 

Cell culture plates can be divided into multiple types according to different standards, including differences in cell type, bottom shape, number of holes, and other factors. These classifications help to choose the most suitable culture plate to meet experimental needs.

 

1.1 Cell type: adherent cells and suspension cells

 

Cell type is the most basic factor in determining the selection of cell culture plates. Depending on whether the cells rely on matrix attachment and growth, cells can be divided into adherent cells and suspension cells:

Adherent cells: These cells need to attach to the culture surface to grow, such as 293 cells and tumor cells. For this type of cell, it is more appropriate to use cell culture plates treated with TC (tissue culture coating). After TC treatment, the surface of the culture plate becomes more hydrophilic, which can enhance cell adhesion and increase cell growth rate.

Suspended cells: such as most white blood cells, some viruses, etc., cells can float freely in the culture medium and do not need to attach to the surface, so ordinary untreated polystyrene culture plates can be used.

 

Multi-wells Cell Culture Plate

 

1.2 Bottom shape: flat bottom, U bottom and V bottom

 

According to the different bottom shapes, cell culture plates are mainly divided into flat bottom plates, U bottom plates and V bottom plates. Each shape of plate is suitable for different types of experimental needs:

 

Flat bottom plate: This is the most common shape of cell culture plate, suitable for all types of cell culture, especially experiments that require large-area cell attachment. It provides a large growth surface and is suitable for cell expansion, long-term culture and various biological experiments.

 

U bottom plate: The characteristic of the U bottom plate is that the culture fluid is concentrated to the bottom due to gravity, and the cells will form aggregates at the bottom of the plate. It is often used in experiments that require close contact between cells, such as cell killing experiments or immune detection experiments, which can promote interactions between cells. Because cells tend to aggregate at the bottom of the plate, U bottom plates are also commonly used in experiments such as cell apoptosis detection.

 

V-bottom plate: The shape of the V-bottom plate allows cells to be concentrated in a smaller area at the bottom. It is often used in cell killing experiments or other experiments that require dense cell aggregation. Similar to the U-bottom plate, the shape of the V-bottom plate can promote close contact between cells, but sometimes the U-bottom plate is more common because the U-shaped design is easier to promote cell aggregation through low-speed centrifugation.

 

1.3 Selection of the number of wells: Choose the right number of wells to meet experimental needs

 

The number of wells in cell culture plates ranges from 6 to 384. Plates with different numbers of wells are suitable for different cell culture scales and experimental needs. Common well number options include 6, 12, 24, 48, 96 and 384 wells.

 

6-well plate, 24-well plate: suitable for cell expansion, transfection experiments and experiments that require a large amount of cell samples, such as Western Blot (WB), flow cytometry and other detection methods. Since the throughput of these experiments is low, 6-well plates and 24-well plates can provide enough space while ensuring good cell growth.

 

96-well plates and 384-well plates: suitable for high-throughput screening, automated detection and other experiments, such as CCK-8 experiments, MTT experiments, cytotoxicity experiments, etc. Since these experiments require processing more samples and require high throughput, the use of 96-well or 384-well plates can significantly improve experimental efficiency and reduce time and operating costs.

 

12-well plates and 48-well plates: suitable for experimental needs between high-throughput experiments and low-throughput experiments, which can not only meet the needs of smaller sample sizes, but also better achieve experimental diversity.

 

2. How to choose cell culture plates according to experimental requirements

 

2.1 Experimental scale and sample size

 

When choosing a cell culture plate, the scale and sample size of the experiment should be considered first. If the experiment involves a large number of samples or requires high-throughput detection, high-throughput plates such as 96-well plates or 384-well plates are obviously a better choice. If it is a small-scale cell culture or an experiment that requires a smaller sample size, a 6-well or 24-well plate would be more suitable.

 

2.2 Cell growth characteristics

 

For different types of cells, such as adherent cells and suspension cells, different treated culture plates should be selected. If it is an adherent cell, the selection of a culture plate with a TC-treated surface (such as a flat-bottom plate or a U-bottom plate) will help the cells to attach and grow well. Suspension cells do not require TC treatment, and ordinary culture plates can be selected.

 

2.3 Experimental requirements and selection of wells

 

Choose the appropriate well number according to the number of cells and detection throughput required for the experiment. When it comes to high-throughput screening, drug testing, antibody experiments, etc., a high-well 96-well plate or 384-well plate can improve work efficiency. For more basic experiments, such as the culture of a single cell line or low-throughput experiments such as Western blotting, 6-well plates and 24-well plates are more suitable.

 

96 Well Elisa Plate

 

Cell culture plates play a vital role in biological experiments. Correctly selecting the right cell culture plate can provide a guarantee for the success of the experiment. Based on factors such as cell type, bottom shape, and well number selection, we can accurately select culture plates according to experimental requirements. Understanding the needs of cells, the scale of the experiment, and the choice of well number can help us better plan experiments, ensure the smooth progress of the cell culture process, and provide guarantees for the accuracy and reproducibility of experimental data.