Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, PA, USA.
Lab Chip. 2017 Sep 12;17(18):3146-3158. doi: 10.1039/c7lc00317j.
Semipermeable cell culture membranes are commonly used in multilayered microfluidic devices to mimic the basement membrane in vivo and to create compartmentalized microenvironments for physiological cell growth and differentiation. However, existing membranes are predominantly made up of synthetic polymers, providing limited capacity to replicate cellular interactions with native extracellular matrices that play a crucial role in the induction of physiological phenotypes. Here we describe a new type of cell culture membranes engineered from native extracellular matrix (ECM) materials that are thin, semipermeable, optically transparent, and amenable to integration into microfluidic cell culture devices. Facile and cost-effective fabrication of these membranes was achieved by controlled sequential steps of vitrification that transformed three-dimensional (3D) ECM hydrogels into structurally stable thin films. By modulating the composition of the ECM, our technique provided a means to tune key membrane properties such as optical transparency, stiffness, and porosity. For microfluidic cell culture, we constructed a multilayered microdevice consisting of two parallel chambers separated by a thin membrane insert derived from different types of ECM. This study showed that our ECM membranes supported attachment and growth of various types of cells (epithelial, endothelial, and mesenchymal cells) under perfusion culture conditions. Our data also revealed the promotive effects of the membranes on adhesion-associated intracellular signaling that mediates cell-ECM interactions. Moreover, we demonstrated the use of these membranes for constructing compartmentalized microfluidic cell culture systems to induce physiological tissue differentiation or to replicate interfaces between different tissue types. Our approach provides a robust platform to produce and engineer biologically active cell culture substrates that serve as promising alternatives to conventional synthetic membrane inserts. This strategy may contribute to the development of physiologically relevant in vitro cell culture models for a wide range of applications.
半渗透细胞培养膜常用于多层微流控装置中,以模拟体内基底膜并为生理细胞生长和分化创造分隔的微环境。然而,现有的膜主要由合成聚合物组成,对复制细胞与天然细胞外基质的相互作用的能力有限,而天然细胞外基质在诱导生理表型方面起着至关重要的作用。在这里,我们描述了一种新型的细胞培养膜,它是由天然细胞外基质 (ECM) 材料制成的,具有薄、半透、光学透明的特点,并且易于集成到微流控细胞培养装置中。通过控制玻璃化的顺序步骤,我们可以轻松且经济有效地制造这些膜,将三维 (3D) ECM 水凝胶转化为结构稳定的薄膜。通过调节 ECM 的组成,我们的技术提供了一种方法来调节关键膜性能,如光学透明度、硬度和孔隙率。对于微流控细胞培养,我们构建了一个由两个平行腔室组成的多层微设备,它们由不同类型的 ECM 衍生的薄膜插入物分隔。这项研究表明,我们的 ECM 膜支持各种类型的细胞(上皮细胞、内皮细胞和间充质细胞)在灌注培养条件下的附着和生长。我们的数据还揭示了膜对细胞-ECM 相互作用中粘着相关细胞内信号的促进作用。此外,我们还展示了这些膜在构建分隔式微流控细胞培养系统中的用途,以诱导生理组织分化或复制不同组织类型之间的界面。我们的方法提供了一个强大的平台来制造和工程具有生物活性的细胞培养基质,作为传统合成膜插入物的有前途的替代品。该策略可能有助于开发用于广泛应用的具有生理相关性的体外细胞培养模型。