Feasibility of the taylor vortex flow bioreactor for mesenchymal stromal cell expansion on microcarriers

Abstract

It is expected that a high cell volumetric concentration of human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) for cell therapy can be achieved by using scalable cell culture platforms as bioreactors. In this paper, the Taylor vortex flow bioreactor (TVFB) was evaluated for hMSCs expansion due to its potential to produce low and homogeneous hydrodynamic forces, which is important for the expansion of these cells. Thus, parameters such as volumetric coefficient of oxygen transfer and shear stress were estimated for the TVFB. Additionally, hMSCs cell expansion on microcarriers was evaluated in TVFB and compared with the traditional spinner flasks. Maximum shear stress and kLa were in the range of 0.027−0.065 Pa and 0.9-11.53 h−1, respectively, at rotation speed between 60−120 rpm. Similar cell concentrations were obtained in both bioreactors, ∼1.7 × 105 cells/mL, representing a fold increase of ∼10 times. However, cell-microcarrier aggregates formed in the TVFB were smaller, with diameter of 0.36 ± 0.01 mm compared to 0.75 ± 0.31 mm obtained in the spinner flask, at the end of the culture. The results obtained in this study demonstrate the potential of TVFB to support manufacturing of anchorage dependent cell cultures for clinical applications.