Manipulation of porous poly(l-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) microcarriers via microfluidics for C2C12 expansion

Chenjing An; Yawen Chen; Yanfei Wu; Zhihuan Hu; Huan Zhang; Ruilai Liu; Yan Zhou; Lian Cen

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124625

Manipulation of porous poly(l-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) microcarriers via microfluidics for C2C12 expansion

Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Jul 1;242(Pt 1):124625. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124625. Epub 2023 May 4.

Authors

Chenjing An¹, Yawen Chen², Yanfei Wu¹, Zhihuan Hu¹, Huan Zhang¹, Ruilai Liu¹, Yan Zhou³, Lian Cen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Materials Chemical Engineering, Department of Product Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology. No.130 Mei Long Road, Shanghai 200237, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, School of Bioengineering, East China University of Science and Technology. No.130 Mei Long Road, Shanghai 200237, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, School of Bioengineering, East China University of Science and Technology. No.130 Mei Long Road, Shanghai 200237, China. Electronic address: zhouyan@ecust.edu.cn.
⁴ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Materials Chemical Engineering, Department of Product Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology. No.130 Mei Long Road, Shanghai 200237, China. Electronic address: liancen@ecust.edu.cn.

PMID: 37146858
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.124625

Abstract

The growth and repair of skeletal muscle are due in part to activation of muscle precursor cells, commonly known as satellite cells or myoblasts. In order to acquire enough cells for neoskeletal muscle regeneration, it is urgent to develop microcarriers for skeletal myoblasts proliferation with a considerable efficiency. The current study was thus proposed to develop a microfluidic technology to manufacture porous poly(l-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) (PLCL) microcarriers of high uniformity, and porosity was manipulated via camphene to suit the proliferation of C2C12 cells. A co-flow capillary microfluidic device was first designed to obtain PLCL microcarriers with different porosity. The attachment and proliferation of C2C12 cells on these microcarriers were evaluated and the differentiation potential of expanded cells were verified. The obtained porous microcarriers were all uniform in size with a high mono-dispersity (CV < 5 %). The content of camphene rendered effects on the size, porosity, and pore size of microcarriers, and porous structure addition produced a softening of their mechanical properties. The one of 10 % camphene (PM-10) exhibited the superior expansion for C2C12 cells with the number of cells after 5 days of culture reached 9.53 times of the adherent cells on the first day. The expanded cells from PM-10 still retained excellent myogenic differentiation performance as the expressions of MYOD, Desmin and MYH2 were intensively enhanced. Hence, the current developed porous PLCL microcarriers could offer as a promising type of substrates not only for in vitro muscular precursor cells expansion without compromising any multipotency but also have the potential as injectable constructs to mediate muscle regeneration.

Keywords: C2C12 cells; Cell expansion; Microcarrier; Microfluidic; Porous.

MeSH terms

Microfluidics*
Myoblasts* / metabolism
Porosity

Substances

caprolactone
dilactide