Enhanced effects of secreted soluble factor preserve better pluripotent state of embryonic stem cell culture in a membrane-based compartmentalized micro-bioreactor

Alginate Encapsulation of Pluripotent Stem Cells Using a Co-axial Nozzle

Pluripotent stem cells (PS cells) are the focus of intense research due to their role in regenerative medicine and drug screening. However, the development of a mass culture system would be required for using PS cells in these applications. Suspension culture is one promising culture method for the mass production of PS cells, although some issues such as controlling aggregation and limiting shear stress from the culture medium are still unsolved. In order to solve these problems, we developed a method of calcium alginate (Alg-Ca) encapsulation using a co-axial nozzle. This method can control the size of the capsules easily by co-flowing N₂ gas. The controllable capsule diameter must be larger than 500 µm because too high a flow rate of N₂ gas causes the breakdown of droplets and thus heterogeneous-sized capsules. Moreover, a low concentration of Alg-Na and CaCl₂ causes non-spherical capsules. Although an Alg-Ca capsule without a coating of Alg-PLL easily dissolves enabling the collection of cells, they can also potentially leak out from capsules lacking an Alg-PLL coating. Indeed, an alginate-PLL coating can prevent cellular leakage but is also hard to break. This technology can be used to research the stem cell niche as well as the mass production of PS cells because encapsulation can modify the micro-environment surrounding cells including the extracellular matrix and the concentration of secreted factors.

Induction of alternative fate other than default neuronal fate of embryonic stem cells in a membrane-based two-chambered microbioreactor by cell-secreted BMP4

Cell-secreted soluble factor signaling in a diffusion dominant microenvironment plays an important role on early stage differentiation of pluripotent stem cells invivo. In this study, we utilized a membrane-based two-chambered microbioreactor (MB) to differentiate mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) in a diffusion dominant microenvironment of the top chamber while providing enough nutrient through the bottom chamber. Speculating that accumulated FGF4 in the small top chamber will augment neuronal differentiation in the MB culture, we first differentiated mESCs for 8 days by using a chemically optimized culture medium for neuronal induction. However, comparison of cellular morphology and expression of neuronal markers in the MB with that in the 6-well plate (6WP) indicated relatively lower neuronal differentiation in the MB culture. Therefore, to investigate whether microenvironment in the MB facilitates non-neuronal differentiation, we differentiated mESCs for 8 days by using chemically defined basal medium. In this case, differentiated cell morphology differed markedly between the MB and 6WP cultures: epithelial sheet-like morphology in the MB, whereas rosette morphology in the 6WP. Expression of markers from the three germ layers indicated lower neuronal but higher meso- and endo-dermal differentiation of mESCs in the MB than the 6WP culture. Moreover, among various cell-secreted soluble factors, BMP4 expression was remarkably upregulated in the MB culture. Inhibition of BMP4 signaling demonstrated that enhanced effect of upregulated BMP4 was responsible for the prominent meso- and endo-dermal differentiation in the MB. However, in the 6WP, downregulated BMP4 had a minimal influence on the differentiation behavior. Our study demonstrated utilization of a microbioreactor to modulate the effect of cell-secreted soluble factors by autoregulation and thereby inducing alternative self-capability of mESCs. Understanding and implementation of autoregulation of soluble factors similar to this study will lead to the development of robust culture systems to control ESC behavior.