Construction of three-dimensional culture model of human neuroendocrine tumor BON-1 and H727 cell lines

Abstract

Objective To provide new methods for the study of human neuroendocrine tumor cells in vitro by establishing three-dimensional culture models. Methods Agarose gel, alginate/polyacrylamide copolymer (ALG/PAAm) hydrogel and polyethylene glycol (PEG) crosslinked poly methyl vinyl ether maleic acid alt (PMVE-alt-MA) hydrogel were prepared. Three-dimensional culture models of human neuroendocrine tumor H727 and BON-1 cell lines based on these three materials were constructed, and the morphological changes of the models were observed by a microscope every 24 h. Results The shapes of H727 and BON-1 cells with three-dimensional culture were different from those of two-dimensional culture. After cultured for one week, H727 cells formed different multicellular spheroids with sphere diameter of 350-450, 150-250 and 50-100 μm on agarose gel, ALG/PAAm hydrogel and in PEG crosslinking PMVE-alt-MA hydrogel respectively. And BON-1 cells grew up into multicellular spheroids with sphere diameter of 150-200 μm in PEG crosslinking PMVE-alt-MA hydrogel, but they just formed irregularly shaped multicellular aggregates on the other two culture materials. Conclusion The three materials could be applied for constructing three-dimensional culture models of BON-1 and H727 cell lines. Due to their advantages and disadvantages, the appropriate culture material would be selected according to specific experimental requirements. Key words: Neuroendocrine tumor cell; Three-dimensional culture model; Culture material