3D Cell Culture in a Self Assembled Nanofiber Environment
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.
PloS one