20 - A guide to basic cell culture and applications in biomaterials and tissue engineering

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter presents that many of the advancements in understanding cell biology have arisen from cell isolation and in vitro studies. However, caution must be extended when comparing in vitro models to the multi-factorial and multi-cellular in vivo environment. Cells invariably behave differently in vivo due to the presence of other cell types, numerous cell signaling factors, and the extracellular matrix and physiological differences in terms of mechanical stress, blood flow, and 3-D growth. Cell type also has to be carefully selected for in vitro experiments to relate to the in vivo environment. For example, due to the ease of isolation, the vast majority of cell culture studies on endothelial cells have been performed on endothelial cells isolated from macro-vessels (large vessels), in human foreskin. However, it has now been shown that endothelial cell phenotypic expression and behavior alters both between the type of vessel (blood, vein or lymphatic vessel), size of vessel (capillary, arteriole or artery) and also the location of the vessels (skin, brain, etc). Whether these differences in endothelial cell behavior are induced by factors produced in the local environment and/or due to different endothelial cell lineages is uncertain, but clearly the selection of endothelial cell-type has important consequences for the success of tissue-engineered tissues and biomaterial research.