Institute of Technical Chemistry, Leibniz University Hannover, 30167 Hannover, Germany.
Institute of Physics, University of Augsburg, 86159 Augsburg, Germany.
Cells. 2023 Jul 9;12(14):1816. doi: 10.3390/cells12141816.
The use of three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures has become increasingly popular in the contexts of drug discovery, disease modelling, and tissue engineering, as they aim to replicate in vivo-like conditions. To achieve this, new hydrogels are being developed to mimic the extracellular matrix. Testing the ability of these hydrogels is crucial, and the presented 3D-printed microfluidic perfusion system offers a novel solution for the parallel cultivation and evaluation of four separate 3D cell cultures. This system enables easy microscopic monitoring of the hydrogel-embedded cells and significantly reduces the required volumes of hydrogel and cell suspension. This cultivation device is comprised of two 3D-printed parts, which provide four cell-containing hydrogel chambers and the associated perfusion medium chambers. An interfacing porous membrane ensures a defined hydrogel thickness and prevents flow-induced hydrogel detachment. Integrated microfluidic channels connect the perfusion chambers to the overall perfusion system, which can be operated in a standard CO-incubator. A 3D-printed adapter ensures the compatibility of the cultivation device with standard imaging systems. Cultivation and cell staining experiments with hydrogel-embedded murine fibroblasts confirmed that cell morphology, viability, and growth inside this cultivation device are comparable with those observed within standard 96-well plates. Due to the high degree of customization offered by additive manufacturing, this system has great potential to be used as a customizable platform for 3D cell culture applications.
三维（3D）细胞培养在药物发现、疾病建模和组织工程等领域越来越受欢迎，因为它们旨在复制类似体内的条件。为了实现这一目标，新的水凝胶正在被开发出来以模拟细胞外基质。测试这些水凝胶的性能至关重要，所提出的 3D 打印微流控灌注系统为并行培养和评估四个独立的 3D 细胞培养物提供了一种新的解决方案。该系统可方便地对嵌入水凝胶的细胞进行微观监测，并大大减少所需的水凝胶和细胞悬浮液体积。该培养装置由两个 3D 打印部件组成，提供四个含有细胞的水凝胶腔室和相关的灌注介质腔室。一个接口多孔膜确保了水凝胶的厚度，并防止了流动引起的水凝胶脱落。集成的微流道将灌注腔室连接到整个灌注系统，可以在标准 CO 培养箱中进行操作。3D 打印适配器确保培养装置与标准成像系统兼容。用嵌入水凝胶的鼠成纤维细胞进行的培养和细胞染色实验证实，该培养装置内的细胞形态、活力和生长与在标准 96 孔板中观察到的相似。由于增材制造提供了高度的定制化，因此该系统具有很大的潜力成为 3D 细胞培养应用的可定制平台。
