Growing cells on soft agar - MCF-7 cells on agar plates (Jun/19/2005 )

Hi,

I have a quick question that I was hoping someone here could help me with. I'm attempting to grow cancer cells (MCF-7 or KB or HeLa) on cell culture petri dishes with a very very thin layer of agar on the bottom (just enough to cover the plate).

It does not seem to be working - they are dying off. I think they are not adhering to the agar - even though it's only a thin layer. The agar is a simple 0.5% agar in PBS. So it's not toxic.

I have tried growing them with their normal media seeding at very high concentrations hoping that something will stick! But no luck.

The reason I need them to grow on the thin layer of the agar is not important. The point is that I need to find a way for them to grow but those little suckers won't. I know for cologenic assays, cells will often be grown on two layers of agar. But for my purposes, I need them to be a monolayer like when they are grown in their normal flasks.

If anybody has any idea on how to help out, please e-mail me:

snoopz6969@yahoo.com

thanks!

One more thing, if anybody knows of a substance that cancer cells will grown on that acts much like agar - that would be just as helpful. It needs to be a substance that hardens and is somewhat porous like agar.