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Kim H, Kim B, Kim SJ, Choi Y, Kim IHR, Han J, Park YG, Han YM, Park JK. Reconfigurable Hanging Drop Microarray Platform for On-Demand Preparation and Analysis of Spheroid Array. Adv Healthc Mater 2024:e2400501. [PMID: 38817106 DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202400501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2024] [Revised: 05/25/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024]
Abstract
In response to the increasing demand for spheroid-based cancer research, the importance of developing integrated platforms that can simultaneously facilitate high-throughput spheroid production and multiplexed analysis is emphasized. In addition, the understanding of how the size and cellular composition of tumors directly influence their internal structures and functionalities underlines the critical need to produce spheroids of diverse sizes and compositions on a large scale. To address this rising demand, this work presents a configurable and linkable in vitro three-dimensional (3D) cell culture kit (CLiCK) for spheroids, termed CLiCK-Spheroid. This platform consists of three primary components: a hanging drop microarray (HDMA), a concave pillar microarray (CPMA), and gradient blocks. The HDMA alone produces a homogeneous spheroid array, while its combination with the gradient block enables one-step generation of a size-gradient spheroid array. Using the size-gradient spheroid arrays, the occurrence of necrotic cores based on spheroid size is demonstrated. Additionally, spheroids in a single batch can be conveniently compartmentalized and regrouped using a CPMA, enhancing the versatility of spheroid arrays and enabling multiplexed drug treatments. By combining the different assembly methods, this work has achieved high-throughput production of cell composition-gradient spheroid arrays, with noticeable variations in morphology and vascularization based on cell compositions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hwisoo Kim
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Bumsoo Kim
- Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Soo Jee Kim
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Yejin Choi
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Irene Hae-Rim Kim
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Jieun Han
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Young-Gyun Park
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Yong-Mahn Han
- Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Je-Kyun Park
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
- KI for Health Science and Technology, KAIST Institutes (KI), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
- KI for NanoCentury, KAIST Institutes (KI), 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea
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Tartagni O, Borók A, Mensà E, Bonyár A, Monti B, Hofkens J, Porcelli AM, Zuccheri G. Microstructured soft devices for the growth and analysis of populations of homogenous multicellular tumor spheroids. Cell Mol Life Sci 2023; 80:93. [PMID: 36929461 PMCID: PMC10020259 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-023-04748-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Revised: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/03/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023]
Abstract
Multicellular tumor spheroids are rapidly emerging as an improved in vitro model with respect to more traditional 2D culturing. Microwell culturing is a simple and accessible method for generating a large number of uniformly sized spheroids, but commercially available systems often do not enable researchers to perform complete culturing and analysis pipelines and the mechanical properties of their culture environment are not commonly matching those of the target tissue. We herein report a simple method to obtain custom-designed self-built microwell arrays made of polydimethylsiloxane or agarose for uniform 3D cell structure generation. Such materials can provide an environment of tunable mechanical flexibility. We developed protocols to culture a variety of cancer and non-cancer cell lines in such devices and to perform molecular and imaging characterizations of the spheroid growth, viability, and response to pharmacological treatments. Hundreds of tumor spheroids grow (in scaffolded or scaffold-free conditions) at homogeneous rates and can be harvested at will. Microscopy imaging can be performed in situ during or at the end of the culture. Fluorescence (confocal) microscopy can be performed after in situ staining while retaining the geographic arrangement of spheroids in the plate wells. This platform can enable statistically robust investigations on cancer biology and screening of drug treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ottavia Tartagni
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via San Donato, 19/2, 40127, Bologna, Italy
| | - Alexandra Borók
- Department of Electronics Technology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Emanuela Mensà
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via San Donato, 19/2, 40127, Bologna, Italy
| | - Attila Bonyár
- Department of Electronics Technology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Barbara Monti
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via San Donato, 19/2, 40127, Bologna, Italy
- Interdepartmental Center for Industrial Research on Health Sciences and Technologies, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Johan Hofkens
- Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, 3001, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Anna Maria Porcelli
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via San Donato, 19/2, 40127, Bologna, Italy
- Interdepartmental Center for Industrial Research on Health Sciences and Technologies, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Giampaolo Zuccheri
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via San Donato, 19/2, 40127, Bologna, Italy.
- Interdepartmental Center for Industrial Research on Health Sciences and Technologies, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
- S3 Center, Institute of Nanoscience, Italian National Research Council, Modena, Italy.
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Schot M, Araújo-Gomes N, van Loo B, Kamperman T, Leijten J. Scalable fabrication, compartmentalization and applications of living microtissues. Bioact Mater 2023; 19:392-405. [PMID: 35574053 PMCID: PMC9062422 DOI: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2022.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2021] [Revised: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 04/06/2022] [Indexed: 10/27/2022] Open
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Novel Platform for Regulation of Extracellular Vesicles and Metabolites Secretion from Cells Using a Multi-Linkable Horizontal Co-Culture Plate. MICROMACHINES 2021; 12:mi12111431. [PMID: 34832842 PMCID: PMC8623696 DOI: 10.3390/mi12111431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Revised: 11/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Microfluidics is applied in biotechnology research via the creation of microfluidic channels and reaction vessels. Filters are considered to be able to simulate microfluidics. A typical example is the cell culture insert, which comprises two vessels connected by a filter. Cell culture inserts have been used for years to study cell-to-cell communication. These systems generally have a bucket-in-bucket structure and are hereafter referred to as a vertical-type co-culture plate (VTCP). However, VTCPs have several disadvantages, such as the inability to simultaneously observe samples in both containers and the inability of cell-to-cell communication through the filters at high cell densities. In this study, we developed a novel horizontal-type co-culture plate (HTCP) to overcome these disadvantages and confirm its performance. In addition, we clarified the migration characteristics of substances secreted from cells in horizontal co-culture vessels. It is generally assumed that less material is exchanged between the horizontal vessels. However, the extracellular vesicle (EV) transfer was found to be twice as high when using HTCP. Other merits include control of the degree of co-culture via the placement of cells. We believe that this novel HTCP container will facilitate research on cell-to-cell communication in various fields.
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Ran P, Chen W, Wei J, Qiu B, Chen M, Xie S, Li X. Macrophage Spheroids with Chronological Phenotype Shifting To Promote Therapeutic Angiogenesis in Critical Limb Ischemia. ACS APPLIED BIO MATERIALS 2020; 3:3707-3717. [DOI: 10.1021/acsabm.0c00333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Pan Ran
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, P. R. China
| | - Weijia Chen
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, P. R. China
| | - Jiaojun Wei
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, P. R. China
| | - Bo Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, P. R. China
| | - Maohua Chen
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, P. R. China
| | - Songzhi Xie
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, P. R. China
| | - Xiaohong Li
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, P. R. China
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