Imaging 3D Microtissues: Brightfield, Fluorescence & Time-Lapse
One of the practical advantages of the 3D Petri Dish® is that imaging needs no special equipment. The micro-mold casts an optically clear agarose gel, so the microtissues forming inside it can be viewed in place with a standard inverted microscope — brightfield, phase contrast, fluorescence, and time-lapse have all been used in published studies.
Because the gel holds each microtissue in a fixed recess, an entire array can be scanned and the same individual spheroids re-imaged over hours or days — useful for following self-assembly, growth, drug response, or co-culture organization without disturbing the culture.
For endpoint analysis, microtissues can be harvested from the gel for immunostaining, Western blots, or RT-PCR, and arrays can be embedded and sectioned for histology (see Kabadi et al., Biotechniques 59:279–286, 2015).
Do I need a confocal microscope to image microtissues?
No. The 3D Petri Dish® is cast from optically clear agarose, so microtissues can be viewed in place with a standard inverted microscope. Brightfield, phase contrast, fluorescent, and time-lapse images have all been acquired of microtissues in the gel.
Can I image spheroids without removing them from the gel?
Yes — that is one of the main advantages. The recesses hold each microtissue in a fixed position in an array, so the same spheroids can be followed over time without harvesting or transferring them.
How do I section microtissues for histology?
Arrays of microtissues formed in the gel can be embedded and sectioned. See Kabadi et al., Biotechniques 59:279–286 (2015) for a published method covering embedding and histology of microtissue arrays.
What about immunostaining?
Microtissues can be harvested from the gel for staining and downstream assays — published work includes immunostaining, Western blots, and RT-PCR on harvested microtissues.
See imaging in practice across 275+ peer-reviewed publications, follow the protocols, or browse micro-molds.