Sun Dongsheng, Liu Yang, Wu Hao, Ren Ying, Ma Xiaojun, Wu Huijian, Sun Guangwei
School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, People's Republic of China.
Scientific Research Center for Translational Medicine, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, People's Republic of China.
Biotechnol Appl Biochem. 2018 Mar;65(2):263-273. doi: 10.1002/bab.1585. Epub 2017 Aug 29.
Optimizing alginate gel beads is necessary to support the survival, proliferation, and function of entrapped hepatocytes. In this study, gelling bath was modified by decreasing calcium ion concentration and increasing sodium ion concentration. Alginate gel beads (using 36% G sodium alginate) prepared in the modified gelling bath had more homogeneous structure and better mass transfer properties compared with the traditional gelling bath that contains only calcium ions. Moreover, alginate gel beads generated in the modified gelling bath could significantly promote the HepG2 cell proliferation and the growth of cell spheroids, and maintain the albumin secretion ability similar to alginate gel beads prepared in the traditional gelling bath with only calcium ions. The mass transfer properties and cell proliferation were similar in ALG beads with different M/G ratio (36% G and 55% G) generated in the modified gelling bath, whereas they were significantly increased compared with alginate gel beads (55% G) in traditional gelling bath. These results indicated that adjusting the gelling bath was a simple and convenient method to enhance the mass transfer properties of alginate gel beads for 3D hepatocyte culture, which might provide more hepatocytes for the bioartificial liver support system.
优化海藻酸钠凝胶珠对于支持包封肝细胞的存活、增殖和功能是必要的。在本研究中，通过降低钙离子浓度和增加钠离子浓度对凝胶浴进行了改良。与仅含钙离子的传统凝胶浴相比，在改良凝胶浴中制备的海藻酸钠凝胶珠（使用36% G的海藻酸钠）具有更均匀的结构和更好的传质性能。此外，在改良凝胶浴中生成的海藻酸钠凝胶珠可显著促进HepG2细胞增殖和细胞球状体的生长，并维持与仅含钙离子的传统凝胶浴中制备的海藻酸钠凝胶珠相似的白蛋白分泌能力。在改良凝胶浴中生成的不同M/G比（36% G和55% G）的海藻酸钠凝胶珠的传质性能和细胞增殖情况相似，而与传统凝胶浴中的海藻酸钠凝胶珠（55% G）相比则显著提高。这些结果表明，调整凝胶浴是一种简单便捷的方法，可增强用于三维肝细胞培养的海藻酸钠凝胶珠的传质性能，这可能为生物人工肝支持系统提供更多肝细胞。
