Tumor tissue growth within upper and lower, nanofibrous scaffolding constraints

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Tumor tissue growth within upper and lower, nanofibrous scaffolding constraints Kenneth Gan1, Jin Zou1 and Hongjun Wang1 1 Stevens Institute of Technology, Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry and Biological Sciences, United States Introduction: Breast cancer is the second most common cancer and accounts for nearly 40,000 deaths each year making it one of the most prominent and detrimental diseases amongst the adult female population. Nevertheless, a viable treatment regimen for combating cancerous tissues in vivo remains a sought after discovery within the biomedical field. Further, the development of three-dimensional (3D) tissue models could facilitate the personalization of patients’ treatment regimens. This study proposed the use of electrospun nanofiber meshes to support and confine the growth of metastatic breast cancer cells within upper and lower nanofibrous boundaries. Coupled with the rapid proliferation tendencies of this cell line, the use of an elastic spinning solution (composed of polycaprolactone and collagen) enables the cells to proliferate within the interior lumen. As the cells fill the compartment, the force imposed on the boundary scaffolds will stretch the polymer and allow the cells to develop a 3D thickness of approximately 100µm. Materials and Methods: Fabrication of nanofibrous scaffold A high voltage driven electrospinning setup was used to collect a dense layer of polycaprolactone (PCL) and collagen (PCL:collagen=3:1) nanofibers on a metal ring. Breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) were seeded onto the fibers with 9,000 cells per sample. After attachment, the top layer was spun in a similar manner such that pores enabled nutrient perfusion without cell migration. Cell culture analysis: After culturing for seven days, the cultured constructs were fixed and processed for histological analysis (i.e. hematoxylin and eosin staining). The stained cross-sections were examined under a bright field microscope and images were captured. Results and Discussion: In order to distinguish between 2D and 3D cultures, the first observation that was made involved cellular morphologies. MDA-MB-231 cells in 2D culture spread out and exhibit a pointed star shape; however, those of a 3D culture are ellipsoidal with much larger thicknesses (10-30µm). The histological staining results confirmed that cell morphologies within both samples matched the expected 3D shape (Fig. 1+2). In the case of the first sample, the linearity implied that it was excised from the tissue much cleaner than the second sample was. This produced a more uniform cell distribution with diameters ranging from 15-30µm (when measuring the longest diameter). Likewise, those in the second sample ranged from 15-35µm, both of which were within the expected diameter range for a 3D culture. The maximum tissue thicknesses recorded for the first and second samples were 84µm and 105µm, respectively. Conclusion: Not only did these results confirm the feasibility of the concept, but they also implied that the samples were not too thick to prevent the interior cells from remaining healthy. This was evidenced by the uniform cell morphologies observed from the top to bottom layers. Although this preliminary analysis was effective in demonstrating a perceived concept, future work would incorporate toxicity analyses to compare our model with existing 2D and 3D culturing mechanisms. Keywords: Cell Adhesion, 3D scaffold, in vivo tissue engineering Conference: 10th World Biomaterials Congress, Montréal, Canada, 17 May - 22 May, 2016. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Synthetic scaffolds as extracellular matrices Citation: Gan K, Zou J and Wang H (2016). Tumor tissue growth within upper and lower, nanofibrous scaffolding constraints. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. Conference Abstract: 10th World Biomaterials Congress. doi: 10.3389/conf.FBIOE.2016.01.03052 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 28 Mar 2016; Published Online: 30 Mar 2016. 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