3D Cell Culture in a Self-Assembled Nanofiber Environment

PLoS One. 2016 Sep 15;11(9):e0162853. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0162853. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

The development and utilization of three-dimensional cell culture platforms has been gaining more traction. Three-dimensional culture platforms are capable of mimicking in vivo microenvironments, which provide greater physiological relevance in comparison to conventional two-dimensional cultures. The majority of three-dimensional culture platforms are challenged by the lack of cell attachment, long polymerization times, and inclusion of undefined xenobiotics, and cytotoxic cross-linkers. In this study, we review the use of a highly defined material composed of naturally occurring compounds, hyaluronic acid and chitosan, known as Cell-Mate3DTM. Moreover, we provide an original measurement of Young's modulus using a uniaxial unconfined compression method to elucidate the difference in microenvironment rigidity for acellular and cellular conditions. When hydrated into a tissue-like hybrid hydrocolloid/hydrogel, Cell-Mate3DTM is a highly versatile three-dimensional culture platform that enables downstream applications such as flow cytometry, immunostaining, histological staining, and functional studies to be applied with relative ease.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Cell Culture Techniques
  • Cell Proliferation
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Nanofibers*

Grants and funding

Bioactive Regenerative Therapeutics, Incorporated (BRTI) Life Sciences (www.brtilifesciences.com) provided the Cell—Mate3D™ materials, reagents, materials and analysis tools for this study. The authors that received the funding are YC EL JDG and JHB. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The funder provided support in the form of salaries for authors YC EL JDG and JHB and the payment of fees charged by third parties to provide microscopy and other research—related services but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.