96-well plate-based method for total collagen analysis of cell cultures

Total collagen assays are often laborious and use large quantities of consu mables. We have developed a new method of assaying total H-3-proline-labele d collagen from cultured cells. Cells and media are harvested from 96-well plates directly onto fiberglass filtermats and counted in the Wallac 1205 f lat-bed scintillation counter (BetaPlate(TM)). The assay was validated by c omparison with a traditional total collagen assay. The resulting assay prov ides a rapid one-step method for quantifying collagen synthesis, which, unl ike many collagen assays, does not require extensive dialysis or precipitat ion of proteins.