BioEngLab, Health Science and Technology, Interdepartmental Center for Industrial Research (HST-CIRI), Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Ozzano Emilia, Italy.
Department of Mathematics Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Physiol Meas. 2021 Jun 29;42(6). doi: 10.1088/1361-6579/ac023b.
. 3D cell cultures are becoming a fundamental resource forstudies, as they mimic more closelybehavior. The analysis of these constructs, however, generally rely on destructive techniques, that prevent the monitoring over time of the same construct, thus increasing the results variability and the resources needed for each experiment.. In this work, we focus on mineralization, a crucial process during maturation of artificial bone models, and propose electrical impedance tomography (EIT) as an alternative non-destructive approach. In particular, we discuss the development of an integrated hardware/software system capable of acquiring experimental data from 3D scaffolds and reconstructing the corresponding conductivity maps. We also show how the same software can test how the measurement is affected by biological features such as scaffold shrinking during the culture.. An initial validation, comprising the acquisition of both a non-conductive phantom and alginate/gelatin scaffolds with known calcium content will be presented, together with thestudy of a cell-induced mineralization process. This analysis will allow for an initial verification of the systems functionality while limiting the effects of biological variability due to cell number and activity.. Our results show the potential of EIT for the non-destructive quantification of matrix mineralization in 3D scaffolds, and open to the possible long term monitoring of this fundamental hallmark of osteogenic differentiation in hybrid tissue engineered constructs.
3D 细胞培养正在成为研究的基本资源，因为它们更能模拟行为。然而，这些结构的分析通常依赖于破坏性技术，这些技术阻止了对同一结构的时间监测，从而增加了结果的可变性和每个实验所需的资源。在这项工作中，我们专注于矿化，这是人工骨模型成熟过程中的一个关键过程，并提出了电阻抗断层成像（EIT）作为一种替代的非破坏性方法。具体来说，我们讨论了开发一种集成的硬件/软件系统的能力，该系统能够从 3D 支架获取实验数据并重建相应的电导率图。我们还展示了相同的软件如何测试测量结果如何受到支架收缩等生物特征的影响。我们将介绍一个初始验证，包括对非导电模型和具有已知钙含量的藻酸盐/明胶支架进行采集，并对细胞诱导的矿化过程进行研究。该分析将允许对系统功能进行初步验证，同时限制由于细胞数量和活性引起的生物变异性的影响。我们的结果表明 EIT 具有在 3D 支架中对基质矿化进行非破坏性定量的潜力，并为杂交组织工程构建体中成骨分化这一基本特征的长期监测开辟了可能性。
