Gonzalez-Fernandez Tomas, Tenorio Alejandro J, Leach J Kent
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, School of Medicine, UC Davis Health, Sacramento, California, USA.
3D Print Addit Manuf. 2020 Jun 1;7(3):139-147. doi: 10.1089/3dp.2019.0129. Epub 2020 Jun 5.
Aggregation of cells into spheroids and organoids is a promising tool for regenerative medicine, cancer and cell biology, and drug discovery due to their recapitulation of the cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions found . Traditional approaches for the production of spheroids, such as the hanging drop method, are limited by the lack of reproducibility and the use of labor-intensive and time-consuming techniques. The need for high-throughput approaches allowing for the quick and reproducible formation of cell aggregates has driven the development of soft lithography techniques based on the patterning of microwells into nonadherent hydrogels. However, these methods are also limited by costly, labor-intensive, and multistep protocols that could impact the sterility of the process and efficiency of spheroid formation. In this study, we describe a one-step method for the fabrication of patterned nonadherent microwells into tissue culture plates using three-dimensional (3D) printed stamps and evaluate the production of cell spheroids of different sizes and cell sources. The generation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cell and endothelial cell spheroids by the use of 3D printed stamps was superior in comparison with a widely used multistep mold technique, yielding spheroids of larger sizes and higher DNA content. The 3D stamps produced spheroids of more consistent diameter and DNA content when compared with other commercially available methods. These 3D printed stamps offer a tunable, simple, fast, and cost-effective approach for the production of reproducible spheroids and organoids for a wide range of applications.
细胞聚集成球体和类器官是再生医学、癌症和细胞生物学以及药物发现领域一种很有前景的工具,因为它们能够重现细胞间和细胞与基质间的相互作用。传统的球体生产方法,如悬滴法,受到缺乏可重复性以及使用劳动强度大且耗时的技术的限制。对高通量方法的需求,即允许快速且可重复地形成细胞聚集体,推动了基于在非粘附水凝胶中对微孔进行图案化的软光刻技术的发展。然而,这些方法也受到成本高、劳动强度大以及多步骤方案的限制,这些可能会影响过程的无菌性和球体形成的效率。在本研究中,我们描述了一种使用三维(3D)打印印章在组织培养板中制造图案化非粘附微孔的一步法,并评估了不同大小和细胞来源的细胞球体的生产情况。与广泛使用的多步骤模具技术相比,使用3D打印印章生成骨髓来源的间充质基质细胞和内皮细胞球体的效果更好,产生的球体更大且DNA含量更高。与其他市售方法相比,3D印章产生的球体直径和DNA含量更一致。这些3D打印印章为生产适用于广泛应用的可重复球体和类器官提供了一种可调节、简单、快速且经济高效的方法。