Nunc™ Polycarbonate Cell Culture Inserts in Multi-Well Plates

The difference between the two 24-well plate formats is as follows:

• Nunc Polycarbonate Cell Culture Inserts in Multi-Well Plates (Cat. No. 140620): There are only 12 inserts in the 24-well multi-well plate, leaving every second column free without an insert. This is a preferred configuration for some co-culture experiments, as it makes it easy to access the culture grown in the multi-well plate for media changes, etc., by placing the insert in the empty well next to it. The inserts are placed directly into the wells here, leaving a 0.9 mm gap between the bottom of the well and the insert membrane.
• Nunc Cell Culture Inserts in Carrier Plate Systems (Cat. No. 141002): There are 24 inserts in the 24-well carrier plate. The carrier plate with the hanging slots allows for adjustment of the insert height. The three hanging positions in the carrier plate allow for distance of approximately 0.9 mm, 3.3 mm, or 6.3 mm between the well-bottom and insert growth surface for both 12- and 24-well plate formats. This configuration is preferred when customer needs more versatility, for example to facilitate air-liquid interface culture, and other co-culture applications.

The membrane is approximately 1.0 mm above the bottom of the dish for the Nunc Polycarbonate Cell Culture Inserts.

Due to the large pore size of the Nunc polycarbonate inserts, spots or holes are observed and they represent the membrane. In this plane of focus, the most visible cells are the ones located on the membrane, whereas the slightly blurred backdrop are the cells on the dish that are in a different plane of focus. These cells do not photograph with great resolution due to the slightly opaque quality of the membrane. However, these cells are visible in culture.

Low position: 2 mL (12-well), 1 mL (24-well), Medium position: 3 mL (12-well), 1.5 mL (24-well), High position: 4 mL (12-well), 2 mL (24-well). Some optimization may be necessary for development purposes.

This has emerged as the industry standard. In many cases having empty wells facilitates media changes and other experimental steps.