Histonetters,

Try Becton Dickenson for Matrigel products.  I think Collaborative Research
use to have the license from NIH; but aren't they now part of BD?

To answer "What it is"...Matrigel is a trade name for a crude extract from
the EHS (Engelbreth Holm Swarm: ?spelling) tumor (I think it is a rat
sarcoma) which overproduces various extracellular matrix proteins including
collagen, laminin, entactin, nidogen, etc...   Matrigel was "invented" by
Hynda Kleinman and George Martin at NIH and there are patents covering its
commercial use.  Among other things, I believe the patents cover protein
solutions over 3.2 mg/ml which is a convenient (near minimum) concentration
for the stuff forming a gel when it warms up.  If you want it to coat slides
or culture surfaces, you do not need to use the protein higher
concentrations and you can buy EHS Extract from companies like Promega. If
you read the fine print, it is the same stuff and it may be cheaper.

I used this stuff in a previous life.

Ty Lee

-----Original Message-----
From: Montague, Donna C <MontagueDonnaC@exchange.uams.edu>
To: 'Karen D. Larison' <LARISONK@UONEURO.uoregon.edu>
Cc: 'Histonet' <histonet@Pathology.swmed.edu>
Date: Friday, May 14, 1999 11:13 AM
Subject: RE: ?metrigel?


>Could you be referring to Matrigel, an extracellular matrix for cell
>culture? I used to get it from Corning or GIBCO/BRL. Now I think the
Corning
>makes culture dishes of various styles that are coated with the gel.We are
>not currently using these cell culture "scaffolds". At the time, we were
>doing cell penetration studies (mobility assays). I'd have to dig through
>old notes to find the processing particulars. You might have better
(faster)
>luck doing a Medline search. Good luck, Donna Montague, Orthopaedic
Research
>University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Karen D. Larison [mailto:LARISONK@UONEURO.uoregon.edu]
>Sent: Thursday, May 13, 1999 5:37 PM
>To: HistoNet@Pathology.swmed.edu
>Subject: ?metrigel?
>
>
>Histonetters,
>
>Someone is asking about a product called metrigel (sp?).  Does anyone know
>what
>this is, or who might supply it?
>
>Karen
>
>
>