simple-establishment-vascularized-osteogenic-bone-marrow-niche-using

Simple Establishment of a Vascularized Osteogenic Bone Marrow Niche Using Pre-Cast Poly(ethylene Glycol) (PEG) Hydrogels in an Imaging Microplate

The bone and bone marrow are highly vascularized and structurally complex organs, and are sites for cancer and metastasis formation. In vitro models ...

Ectica Technologies AG

Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture models are gaining increasing interest for use in drug development pipelines due to their closer resemblance to human tissues. Hydrogels are the first-choice class of materials to recreate in vitro the 3D extra-cellular matrix (ECM) environment, important in studying cell-ECM interactions and 3D cellular organization and leading to physiologically relevant in vitro tissue models. Here we propose a novel hydrogel platform consisting of a 96-well plate containing pre-cast synthetic PEG-based hydrogels for the simple establishment of 3D (co-)culture systems without the need for the standard encapsulation method. The in-depth density gradient at the surface of the hydrogel promotes the infiltration of cells deposited on top of it. The ability to decouple hydrogel production and cell seeding is intended to simplify the use of hydrogel-based platforms and thus increase their accessibility. Using this platform, we established 3D cultures relevant for studying stem cell differentiation, angiogenesis, and neural and cancer models.

Soft Hydrogels Featuring In-Depth Surface Density Gradients for the Simple Establishment of 3D Tissue Models for Screening Applications.

Cardiovascular diseases are a major cause of death around the world underlining the importance of efficient treatments including novel medication. In vitro models of cardiac tissues are highly desired for monitoring electrophysiological response to screen pharmaceutical compounds at an early stage. Here, we report a platinum based 3D pillar electrode platform with cell growth guiding channel, which allows integrated, continuous electrical stimulation and recording of the cardiac tissues. This platform was successfully used to culture beating cardiomyocytes over weeks. The Pt-PDMS pillar electrode showed an impedance of 2.5 ± 0.3 kΩ at 10 Hz that is stable for using in cell cultures at 37 °C. Electrically pacing the cells improved maturation of the cardiac tissues. Contraction activities of 3D cardiac tissues were monitored in real-time through the pillar electrodes to evaluate physiological parameters. Adding 100 nM Isoproterenol clearly increased the spontaneous beating rate and decreased the extracellular field potential duration of the microtissues observed with electrical recording through the pillar electrodes. Overall, this platform has a potential to be applied in drug screening for in situ monitoring the biophysical parameters of the heart tissue in real-time.

Benjamin R. Simona

Ectica Technologies AG

Simple Establishment of a Vascularized Osteogenic Bone Marrow Niche Using Pre-Cast Poly(ethylene Glycol) (PEG) Hydrogels in an Imaging Microplate