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View additional product information for Nunc™ Lab-Tek™ Chamber Slide System - FAQs (177372, 177410PK, 177380, 177380PK, 177399PK, 177372PK, 177429, 177437, 177429PK, 177445, 177402, 178599PK, 177399, 177410, 177437PK, 178599, 177402PK, 177445PK)
16 product FAQs found
Unfortunately, we do not have a recommended cell density for our LabTek Chamber Slides. However, you can refer to the following link, which provides recommended cell densities for our other cell culture products:
https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/references/gibco-cell-culture-basics/cell-culture-protocols/cell-culture-useful-numbers.html
Please review the following key differences between the Nunc Lab-Tek Chamber Slide System and the Nunc Lab-Tek II Chamber Slide System:
- The Nunc Lab-Tek Chamber Slide System is available in Permanox plastic or glass and incorporates a silicone gasket.
- The Nunc Lab-Tek II Chamber Slide System is available in glass only and do not have a silicone gasket.
- The Nunc Lab-Tek II Chamber Slide System has a blue hydrophobic border and the upper structure is attached by an adhesive. Supplied with this product is a key and holder system which is used to remove the upper structure from the glass slide.
- The Nunc Lab-Tek Chamber Slide System is available in 1-, 2-, 4-, 8- or 16-well formats.
- The Nunc Lab-Tek II Chamber Slide System is available in 1-, 2-, 4- or 8-well formats.
The following are possible causes and solutions:
- The cells could be stressed due to media substitution, especially from serum-free formulations, or other changes to the culture environment such as in temperature, humidity, and CO2 percentage. If possible, always plate cells in serum-containing medium. Switching cells to a serum-free media should be done gradually.
- The cells could be plated at very low densities. Most cell lines have a minimal platting density below which normal cell proliferation cannot occur, and therefore should be avoided.
- The cells could be poorly adherent. Treatment of cells that may reduce adhesion and therefore, should not be done immediately after plating, but after the cells have resumed exponential growth.
The upper structure of our Nunc Lab-Tek Chamber Slide products are made of polystyrene so it is not compatible with many fixation reagents. These chamber slide products are designed for upper structure and gasket removal before fixing, staining, and coverslipping.
Our Nunc Lab-Tek Chamber Slide products are used for fluorescence analyses at the microscopic level.
The following are commonly used excitation and emittance wavelengths:
FITC
- Excitation: 420-490 nm
- Emittance: 520-550 nm
Rhodamine
- Excitation: 510-560 nm
- Emittance: 570-610 nm
Hoechst
- Excitation: 330-380 nm
- Emittance: 480-510 nm
Although Permanox plastic exhibits some autofluorescence, for most fluorescence applications, it is negligible.
Since fluorescence photography requires lengthy exposure times, we recommend the Nunc Lab-Tek Chamber Slide System products that are made from glass.
We have a Technical Bulletin (link below) describing fixation reagents that are compatible with Permanox plastic: https://assets.thermofisher.com/TFS-Assets/LSG/Application-Notes/D19581.pdf
We recommend using an aqueous based mounting medium. Caution: Any mounting medium containing toluene or xylene will warp the Permanox slide. The following link contains information regarding mounting media for Permanox slides: https://assets.thermofisher.com/TFS-Assets/LSG/Application-Notes/D19576.pdf
Our Nunc Lab-Tek Chamber Slide System products, made of Permanox plastic, are not coated with any chemicals or reagents. Cell culture or tissue culture treatment refers to a method of surface modification that enhances cell adherence and result in a hydrophilic surface.
Permanox is a specific type of polymer classified as a member of the polyolefin family. We offer Permanox Plastic Chamber Slides and Nunc Microscope Slides made from Permanox plastic that are cell culture treated for adherent cell culture.
Lab-Tek products are compatible with all common fixatives, including paraformaldehyde. Acetone at 100% and some mixtures of acetone and alcohols are not compatible with the polystyrene upper well structure and will result in clouding or other effects of chemical attack. We encourage careful testing within planned operating conditions before working with high-value samples.
Lab-Tek chambered coverglasses are not accessories to Lab-Tek chamber slides, but another complete product for cell culture. The chambers are simply adhered to a borosilicate coverglass (to serve as the culture surface) rather than a soda lime glass or Permanox microscope slide. Most customers select this format for compatibility with confocal imaging systems that require a #1.0, approx. 120 micron (Lab-Tek) or #1.5, approx. 180 micron (Lab-Tek II) substrate. Because the coverglass is very thin and fragile, the chambered coverglasses (unlike chamber slides) cannot be disassembled.
Lab-Tek II chambered glass slide systems are available in our standard high-purity water washed culture treatment or our “CC2” surface modification. The latter is a proprietary passive treatment that resembles poly-D-lysine, often improving culture performance when working with fastidious cells such as neuronal cultures.
Lab-Tek chambered slide systems are based either on a standard soda lime glass microscope slide, or a culture-treated Permanox plastic slide. The latter may serve as a better culture surface for certain types of cells that don't grow well on glass, but may be of limited use for certain types of fluorescence microscopy due to the endogenous autofluorescence of plastic.
The standard glass Lab-Tek slide cell culture treatment consists of a proprietary, multi-stage high-purity water washing process. Unlike our plastic products for adherent cell culture (see Nunclon Delta), there is no need for further modification of the surface because glass is already hydrophilic and therefore already suitable for culture of many adherent cell lines.
The main difference is the way the upper chamber structure is attached to the slide. Lab-Tek slides use a silicone gasket that can be peeled away once the chambers are removed after culture. Lab-Tek II slides use a hydrophobic acrylic adhesive that remains on the slide after chamber removal but (due to its very low profile) will not interfere with coverslips. The chamber geometry is also slightly different: on Lab-Tek slides the walls lean inward slightly to limit media evaporation, whereas on Lab-Tek II slides they are completely vertical.