Figure 1. Visualizing HUVEC cells (labeled with CellTracker Red dye) and PC-3 prostate cancer cells (labeled with CellTracker Blue dye) simultaneously on the underside of the insert using fluorescence imaging.
Permeable cell culture inserts for carrier plates
Cell culture inserts at a glance
Cell culture inserts are designed to be used in concert with carrier plates. These inserts can be slotted in multiple positions, allowing you to adjust well growth surface height, as well as the resulting media volume required for such a height.
This customizability allows you to optimize for gas exchange, oxygen tension, pH, and growth factor availability. Different insert pore sizes are available depending on application. Navigate to the associated guide using the button below.
Explore how:
Webinar registration: The power behind culturing cells on a porous membrane
Application note: Cell culture inserts in multiwell dishes
Cell culture inserts with porous membranes
The porous membrane and unique structure of the Thermo Scientific Nunc cell culture inserts is designed for versatility by allowing the attached surface of your cells to be simultaneously exposed to growth media and to the variable condition(s) called for by your experiment. The carrier plate option makes it easier than ever to carry out these procedures with precision and time-saving convenience.
Cell culture inserts and carrier plates
What is a carrier plate?
The Thermo Scientific Nunc Carrier Plate for Cell Culture Inserts is an innovative "add on" that you can choose to include with our standard insert offerings. The carrier plate fits into our 12- or 24-well formats.
It's the carrier plate that provides the carefully engineered height-adjusting grooves within each well for use with your inserts. When selecting, you can order with or without the carrier plate addition. For any application that requires a 12- or 24-well plate, your best option is to include the carrier plate to make your procedures easier, more precise, and efficient.
Cell culture inserts with precise height adjustment
With the one-of-a-kind carrier plate, inserts can be height adjusted inside each well to achieve various, optimal positions relative to the media and bottom of the plate—adding precision and convenience that can be vital to your process.
With adjustable inserts and carrier plates you can:
- Add the ability to adjust your inserts to various heights within each well; our carrier plate fits perfectly into our 12- or 24-well plates
- Optimize the position of each porous membrane insert and volume of media required for your application
- Save time when feeding cells; with the carrier plate pipetting into each well separately is no longer necessary
- Conveniently adjust media volumes to extend feeding times (great for weekends)
Inserts for skin tissue culture
The Thermo Scientific Nunc cell culture insert system offers a highly reliable, effective and efficient solution for culturing 3D epidermal skin models used in numerous applications—from skin care product testing to clinical screening of compounds and formulations. Initial experiments on cell attachment and expansion indicate that Nunc cell culture inserts are an excellent growth substrate for human epidermal keratinocytes.
The system for growing 3D skin tissue models includes:
- A 24-well cell culture treated plate, preloaded with 4 μm pore size polycarbonate membrane inserts
- The proprietary 24-well carrier plate, designed to enable three different hanging height adjustments to accommodate required liquid-air interface culture and variable cell feeding protocols
Order Nunc polycarbonate membrane inserts in multidishes
Ordering cell culture inserts by application
An important consideration for cell culture researchers is the height of the growth surface of the insert within the well, and the resulting volume of media required to grow cells at each height. Media height and volume are variables which may need to be controlled to optimize such things as gas exchange, oxygen tension, availability of growth factors, or pH. Adjustment of the insert allows more than one position relative to the bottom of the carrier plate.
Cell culture insert FAQ
Q. How can I visualize cells seeded on the cell culture insert?
A. Our cell culture inserts are made up of polycarbonate, so it makes it difficult to visualize cells using brightfield microscope. However, cells can be stained using CellTracker dyes and visualized using a fluorescence microscope. Using different fluorophore-tagged CellTracker dyes, multiple cell types in a co-culture an also be visualized. An example here is visualization of HUVEC and PC-3 cells on the underside of the insert.
Q. Can I coat the cell culture insert?
A. Yes, cell culture inserts can be coated. A general recommendation is to increase the time for coating. We recommend 16–24 hours for coating based on the cell type and the coating material used. This is because the polycarbonate membrane is less receptive to coating than a regular tissue culture-treated surface.
Q. Can I seed cells on the underside of the insert?
A. The underside of the insert is not cell culture treated. Nevertheless, cells can definitely be seeded on the underside after coating it with the appropriate coating material. An example shown here is HUVEC cells seeded on the underside of the insert using 1% Geltrex matrix.
Figure 2. HUVEC cells seeded on the undersides of an uncoated (left) and a 1% Geltrex matrix–coated (right) cell culture insert. Coating the underside leads to better attachment of cells. Cells were stained with NucBlue Live ReadyProbes reagent.
Choose your cell culture insert membrane pore size by application
| Cell culture insert applications | 0.4 µm | 3 µm | 8 µm |
|---|---|---|---|
Transport studies
| ✔ | ✔ | |
Transport studies co-cultivation studies
| ✔ | ✔ | |
Tissue engineering
| ✔ | ✔ | |
Chemotaxis studies
| ✔ | ✔ | |
Invasion studies
| ✔ | ✔ |
Inserts by pore size
With the above application information in mind, see below to find a suitable insert for your application.
Jump to:
0.4 µm pores
| Cat. No. | Description | Well plate size | Pore density (pores/cm2) | Porosity | Culture area (cm2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 140640 | 6 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 0.4 µm PC pore size 3.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 6 | 6 | <0.85 x 108 | <6.8% | 3.14 |
| 140660 | 6 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 0.4 µm PC pore size 4.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 6 | 6 | <0.85 x 108 | <6.8% | 4.1 |
| 140652 | Inserts and multiwell dish | 12 | <0.85 x 108 | <6.8% | 1.13 |
| 141078 | Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate | 12 | <0.85 x 108 | <6.8% | 1.13 |
| 140620 | Inserts and multiwell dish | 24 | <0.85 x 108 | <6.8% | 0.47 |
| 141002 | Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate | 24 | <0.85 x 108 | <6.8% | 0.47 |
3 µm pores
| Cat. No. | Description | Well plate size | Pore density (pores/cm2) | Porosity | Culture area (cm2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 140642 | 6 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 3 µm PC pore size 3.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 6 | 6 | <1.70 x 106 | <7.7% | 3.14 |
| 140663 | 6 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 3 µm PC pore size 4.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 6 | 6 | <1.70 x 106 | <7.7% | 4.1 |
| 140654 | Inserts and multiwell dish | 12 | <1.70 x 106 | <7.7% | 1.13 |
| 141080 | Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate | 12 | <1.70 x 106 | <7.7% | 1.13 |
| 140627 | Inserts and multiwell dish | 24 | <1.70 x 106 | <7.7% | 0.47 |
| 141004 | Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate | 24 | <1.70 x 106 | <7.7% | 0.47 |
8 µm pores
| Cat. No. | Description | Well plate size | Pore density (pores/cm2) | Porosity | Culture area (cm2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 140644 | 6 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 8 µm PC pore size 3.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 6 | 6 | <0.85 x 105 | <2.7% | 3.14 |
| 140668 | 6 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 8 µm PC pore size 4.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 6 | 6 | <0.85 x 105 | <2.7% | 4.1 |
| 140656 | Inserts and multiwell dish | 12 | <0.85 x 105 | <2.7% | 1.13 |
| 141082 | Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate | 12 | <0.85 x 105 | <2.7% | 1.13 |
| 140629 | Inserts and multiwell dish | 24 | <0.85 x 105 | <2.7% | 0.47 |
| 141006 | Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate | 24 | <0.85 x 105 | <2.7% | 0.47 |
Choose your cell culture insert membrane pore size by application
| Cell culture insert applications | 0.4 µm | 3 µm | 8 µm |
|---|---|---|---|
Transport studies
| ✔ | ✔ | |
Transport studies co-cultivation studies
| ✔ | ✔ | |
Tissue engineering
| ✔ | ✔ | |
Chemotaxis studies
| ✔ | ✔ | |
Invasion studies
| ✔ | ✔ |
Inserts by pore size
With the above application information in mind, see below to find a suitable insert for your application.
Jump to:
0.4 µm pores
| Cat. No. | Description | Well plate size | Pore density (pores/cm2) | Porosity | Culture area (cm2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 140640 | 6 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 0.4 µm PC pore size 3.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 6 | 6 | <0.85 x 108 | <6.8% | 3.14 |
| 140660 | 6 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 0.4 µm PC pore size 4.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 6 | 6 | <0.85 x 108 | <6.8% | 4.1 |
| 140652 | Inserts and multiwell dish | 12 | <0.85 x 108 | <6.8% | 1.13 |
| 141078 | Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate | 12 | <0.85 x 108 | <6.8% | 1.13 |
| 140620 | Inserts and multiwell dish | 24 | <0.85 x 108 | <6.8% | 0.47 |
| 141002 | Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate | 24 | <0.85 x 108 | <6.8% | 0.47 |
3 µm pores
| Cat. No. | Description | Well plate size | Pore density (pores/cm2) | Porosity | Culture area (cm2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 140642 | 6 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 3 µm PC pore size 3.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 6 | 6 | <1.70 x 106 | <7.7% | 3.14 |
| 140663 | 6 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 3 µm PC pore size 4.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 6 | 6 | <1.70 x 106 | <7.7% | 4.1 |
| 140654 | Inserts and multiwell dish | 12 | <1.70 x 106 | <7.7% | 1.13 |
| 141080 | Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate | 12 | <1.70 x 106 | <7.7% | 1.13 |
| 140627 | Inserts and multiwell dish | 24 | <1.70 x 106 | <7.7% | 0.47 |
| 141004 | Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate | 24 | <1.70 x 106 | <7.7% | 0.47 |
8 µm pores
| Cat. No. | Description | Well plate size | Pore density (pores/cm2) | Porosity | Culture area (cm2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 140644 | 6 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 8 µm PC pore size 3.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 6 | 6 | <0.85 x 105 | <2.7% | 3.14 |
| 140668 | 6 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 8 µm PC pore size 4.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 6 | 6 | <0.85 x 105 | <2.7% | 4.1 |
| 140656 | Inserts and multiwell dish | 12 | <0.85 x 105 | <2.7% | 1.13 |
| 141082 | Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate | 12 | <0.85 x 105 | <2.7% | 1.13 |
| 140629 | Inserts and multiwell dish | 24 | <0.85 x 105 | <2.7% | 0.47 |
| 141006 | Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate | 24 | <0.85 x 105 | <2.7% | 0.47 |
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For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.