Emerging Methods for Enhancing Pluripotent Stem Cell Expansion

Sarah W Chan; Muhammad Rizwan; Evelyn K F Yim

doi:10.3389/fcell.2020.00070

Emerging Methods for Enhancing Pluripotent Stem Cell Expansion

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020 Feb 14:8:70. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.00070. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Sarah W Chan¹, Muhammad Rizwan¹, Evelyn K F Yim^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
² Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
³ Centre for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have great potential to revolutionize the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine as well as stem cell therapeutics. However, the end goal of using PSCs for therapeutic use remains distant due to limitations in current PSC production. Conventional methods for PSC expansion have limited potential to be scaled up to produce the number of cells required for the end-goal of therapeutic use due to xenogenic components, high cost or low efficiency. In this mini review, we explore novel methods and emerging technologies of improving PSC expansion: the use of the two-dimensional mechanobiological strategies of topography and stiffness and the use of three-dimensional (3D) expansion methods including encapsulation, microcarrier-based culture, and suspension culture. Additionally, we discuss the limitations of conventional PSC expansion methods as well as the challenges in implementing non-conventional methods.

Keywords: encapsulation; mechanobiology; microcarriers; pluripotent stem cell culture; stiffness; suspension; three-dimension (3D) culture methods; topography.

Publication types

Review