Permeable cell culture inserts for carrier plates

Cell culture inserts at a glance

Two carrier plates on white background

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.

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Insert pore size guide

Webinar registration: The power behind culturing cells on a porous membrane
 Application note: Cell culture inserts in multiwell dishes

Cell culture inserts in a variety of sizes

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.

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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.

A diagram of the multiple heights at which inserts can be applied

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)

Explore cell culture inserts by application

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.

 Read the cell culture insert application note

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.

HUVEC and PC-3 cells seeded on the underside of the Nunc Cell Culture Insert

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.

HUVEC cells seeded on the underside of the Nunc Cell Culture Insert using 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 applications0.4 µm3 µm8 µm
Transport studies
  • Molecules including hormones and growth factors
  • Drug transport across epithelial (Caco-2) and endothelial barriers
  • Drug transport across brain microvascular endothelial cells
✔✔ 
Transport studies co-cultivation studies
  • Cell-cell interaction
  • Cell-substrate interaction
✔✔ 
Tissue engineering
  • Angiogenesis
  • Dermal/epidermal and epithelial tissue models
✔✔ 
Chemotaxis studies
  • Migration of cells including eosinophils and macrophages
 ✔✔
Invasion studies
  • Tumor invasion and metastasis models
  • Invasion inhibitors
  • Extracellular matrix effects
 ✔✔
 
Thermo Scientific Cell Culture Inserts

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.DescriptionWell plate sizePore density (pores/cm2)PorosityCulture area (cm2)
1406406 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 0.4 µm PC pore size 3.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 66<0.85 x 108<6.8%3.14
1406606 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 0.4 µm PC pore size 4.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 66<0.85 x 108<6.8%4.1
140652Inserts and multiwell dish12<0.85 x 108<6.8%1.13
141078Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate12<0.85 x 108<6.8%1.13
140620Inserts and multiwell dish24<0.85 x 108<6.8%0.47
141002Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate24<0.85 x 108<6.8%0.47

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3 µm pores

Cat. No.DescriptionWell plate sizePore density (pores/cm2)PorosityCulture area (cm2)
1406426 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 3 µm PC pore size 3.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 66<1.70 x 106<7.7%3.14
1406636 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 3 µm PC pore size 4.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 66<1.70 x 106<7.7%4.1
140654Inserts and multiwell dish12<1.70 x 106<7.7%1.13
141080Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate12<1.70 x 106<7.7%1.13
140627Inserts and multiwell dish24<1.70 x 106<7.7%0.47
141004Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate24<1.70 x 106<7.7%0.47

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8 µm pores

Cat. No.DescriptionWell plate sizePore density (pores/cm2)PorosityCulture area (cm2)
1406446 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 8 µm PC pore size 3.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 66<0.85 x 105<2.7%3.14
1406686 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 8 µm PC pore size 4.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 66<0.85 x 105<2.7%4.1
140656Inserts and multiwell dish12<0.85 x 105<2.7%1.13
141082Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate12<0.85 x 105<2.7%1.13
140629Inserts and multiwell dish24<0.85 x 105<2.7%0.47
141006Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate24<0.85 x 105<2.7%0.47

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Pore size guide

Choose your cell culture insert membrane pore size by application

Cell culture insert applications0.4 µm3 µm8 µm
Transport studies
  • Molecules including hormones and growth factors
  • Drug transport across epithelial (Caco-2) and endothelial barriers
  • Drug transport across brain microvascular endothelial cells
✔✔ 
Transport studies co-cultivation studies
  • Cell-cell interaction
  • Cell-substrate interaction
✔✔ 
Tissue engineering
  • Angiogenesis
  • Dermal/epidermal and epithelial tissue models
✔✔ 
Chemotaxis studies
  • Migration of cells including eosinophils and macrophages
 ✔✔
Invasion studies
  • Tumor invasion and metastasis models
  • Invasion inhibitors
  • Extracellular matrix effects
 ✔✔
 
Explore inserts by pore size
Thermo Scientific Cell Culture Inserts

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.DescriptionWell plate sizePore density (pores/cm2)PorosityCulture area (cm2)
1406406 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 0.4 µm PC pore size 3.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 66<0.85 x 108<6.8%3.14
1406606 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 0.4 µm PC pore size 4.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 66<0.85 x 108<6.8%4.1
140652Inserts and multiwell dish12<0.85 x 108<6.8%1.13
141078Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate12<0.85 x 108<6.8%1.13
140620Inserts and multiwell dish24<0.85 x 108<6.8%0.47
141002Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate24<0.85 x 108<6.8%0.47

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3 µm pores

Cat. No.DescriptionWell plate sizePore density (pores/cm2)PorosityCulture area (cm2)
1406426 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 3 µm PC pore size 3.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 66<1.70 x 106<7.7%3.14
1406636 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 3 µm PC pore size 4.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 66<1.70 x 106<7.7%4.1
140654Inserts and multiwell dish12<1.70 x 106<7.7%1.13
141080Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate12<1.70 x 106<7.7%1.13
140627Inserts and multiwell dish24<1.70 x 106<7.7%0.47
141004Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate24<1.70 x 106<7.7%0.47

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8 µm pores

Cat. No.DescriptionWell plate sizePore density (pores/cm2)PorosityCulture area (cm2)
1406446 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 8 µm PC pore size 3.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 66<0.85 x 105<2.7%3.14
1406686 Cell Culture Inserts in 6-Well Plate, 8 µm PC pore size 4.1 cm2 Surface, Pack of 66<0.85 x 105<2.7%4.1
140656Inserts and multiwell dish12<0.85 x 105<2.7%1.13
141082Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate12<0.85 x 105<2.7%1.13
140629Inserts and multiwell dish24<0.85 x 105<2.7%0.47
141006Inserts, multiwell dish, and carrier plate24<0.85 x 105<2.7%0.47

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For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.