The culture of human embryonic stem cells in microchannel perfusion bioreactors

Abstract

The culture of human Embryonic Stem (ES) cells in microchannel bioreactors can be highly beneficial for ES cell biology studies and ES tissue engineering applications. In the present study we examine the use of Human Foreskin Fibroblasts (HFF) cells as feeder cells for human ES culture in a microchannel perfusion bioreactor. PDMS microchannels (depth:130 micron) were fabricated using conventional soft-lithography techniques. The channels were sterilized, coated with a human fibronectin solution and seeded with cells. Following a period of static incubation, culture medium was perfused through the channels at various flow rates and cell growth was monitored throughout the culture process. Mass transport and fluid mechanics models were used to evaluate the culture conditions (shear stress, oxygen levels within the micro-bioreactor as a function of the medium flow rate. The conditions for successful long-term culture (>7 days) of HFF under flow were established. Experiments with human embryonic stem cells cultured in microchannels show that the conditions essential to co-culture human ES cell on HFF cells under perfusion differ from the conditions necessary for HFF cell culture. Human ES cells were found to be highly sensitive to flow and culture conditions and did not grow under flow rates which were suitable for HFF long-term culture. Successful culture of undifferentiated human ES cell colonies in a perfusion micro-bioreactor is a basic step towards utilizing microfluidic techniques to explore stem cell biology.