Abstract
Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) including embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can indefinitely self-renew and contribute to all tissue types of the adult organism. The clinical application of stem cells depends on the availability of efficient protocols for the expansion of pluripotent cells as well as their differentiated progeny. Stirred suspension bioreactors (SSBs) propose several benefits over the conventional use of static culture flasks, and their homogeneous culture environment facilitates the large-scale expansion and maintenance of PSCs required for clinical studies at less cost. More recently, stem cell researchers have begun to establish effective bioreactor expansion techniques to generate “clinically relevant” numbers of stem cells. In this chapter, after a brief background on stem cells and their benefits, different methods and challenges for the optimized expansion and differentiation of murine and human PSCs in suspension bioreactors will be discussed. Furthermore, the advantageous role of SSBs for the derivation of murine iPSCs will be described. In the last part, different suggested mechanisms about the effect of shear stress on the pluripotency of stem cells in bioreactors will be described.
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