Open AccessFirst steps towards the successful surface‐based cultivation of human embryonic stem cells in hanging drop systems
Author(s) -
Schulz Julia C.,
Stumpf Patrick S.,
KatsenGloba Alisa,
Sachinidis Agapios,
Hescheler Jürgen,
Zimmermann Heiko
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
engineering in life sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.547
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1618-2863
pISSN - 1618-0240
DOI - 10.1002/elsc.201100213
Subject(s) - embryonic stem cell , stem cell , microbiology and biotechnology , drop (telecommunication) , biology , engineering , mechanical engineering , genetics , gene
Miniaturization and parallelization of cell culture procedures are in focus of research in order to develop test platforms with low material consumption and increased standardization for toxicity and drug screenings. The cultivation in hanging drops ( HD s) is a convenient and versatile tool for biological applications and represents an interesting model system for the screening applications due to its uniform shape, the advantageous gas supply, and the small volume. However, its application has so far been limited to non#x02010;adherent and aggregate forming cells. Here, we describe for the first time the proof‐of‐principle regarding the adherent cultivation of human embryonic stem cells in HD . For this microcarriers were added to the droplet as dynamic cultivation surfaces resulting in a maintained pluripotency and proliferation capacity for 10 days. This enables the HD technique to be extended to the cultivation of adherence‐dependent stem cells. Also, the possible automation of this method by implementation of liquid handling systems opens new possibilities for miniaturized screenings, the improvement of cultivation and differentiation conditions, and toxicity and drug development.