Three-dimensional Microtissues Research Articles

Multistage Nanocarrier Based on an Oil Core-Graphene Oxide Shell.

Potent synthetic drugs, as well as biomolecules extracted from plants, have been investigated for their selectivity toward cancer cells. The main limitation in cancer treatment is the ability to bring such molecules within each single cancer cell, which requires accumulation in the peritumoral region followed by homogeneous spreading within the entire tissue. In the last decades, nanotechnology has emerged as a powerful tool due to its ability to protect the drug during blood circulation and allow enhanced accumulation around the leaky regions of the tumor vasculature. However, the ideal size for accumulation of around 100 nm is too large for effective penetration into the dense collagen matrix. Therefore, we propose a multistage system based on graphene oxide nanosheet-based quantum dots (GOQDs) with dimensions that are 12 nm, functionalized with hyaluronic acid (GOQDs-HA), and deposited using the layer-by-layer technique onto an oil-in-water nanoemulsion (O/W NE) template that is around 100 nm in size, previously stabilized by a biodegradable polymer, chitosan. The choice of a biodegradable core for the nanocarrier is to degrade once inside the tumor, thus promoting the release of smaller compounds, GOQDs-HA, carrying the adsorbed anticancer compound, which in this work is represented by curcumin as a model bioactive anticancer molecule. Additionally, modification with HA aims to promote active targeting of stromal and cancer cells. Cell uptake experiments and preliminary penetration experiments in three-dimensional microtissues were performed to assess the proposed multistage nanocarrier.

The mechanistic role of connexin 43 in maturation of hiPSC cardiomyocytes

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – EU funding. Main funding source(s): ECR (European research council) and ReNew (the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine supported by Novo Nordisk Foundation grants) Introduction Cardiomyocytes (CMs) differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are functionally immature and this limits the application of these cells to cardiovascular research. Maturation can be improved by aggregating hiPSC-CMs into three-dimensional (3D) microtissues together with hiPSC-cardiac fibroblasts (hiPSC-CFs) and hiPSC-endothelial cells (hiPSC-ECs). These cardiac microtissues showed improved structural (increase of sarcomere length and organisation) and functional (more mature action potential profile) properties. This effect was only observed when the cardiac microtissues contained hiPSC-CFs. Since connexin 43 (CX43), the most ubiquitous connexin isoform in the heart, was significantly upregulated in hiPSC-CMs from cardiac microtissues, we hypothesise that mechanisms underlying hiPSC-CMs maturation involves the coupling of hiPSC-CMs with hiPSC-CFs through this protein. Purpose The aim of this study is to unravel the role of CX43 in the maturation of hiPSC-CMs in the context of 3D multicellular cardiac tissues. Methods We used the CRISPR/Cas9 technology to generate a CX43 knock-out (KO) hiPSC line. We designed two sgRNAs annealing to exon 2 of GJA1 gene, encoding CX43; indels generated by the non-homologous end joining after the Cas9 double strand break will result in a non-functional protein. Cells were differentiated in vitro into CMs, epicardial cells (EPI) and then CFs and characterized for the expression of cell-specific markers and compared with the wild-type parental control cells. Results and conclusions We screened 31 hiPSC clones and selected those in which both GJA1 alleles contained a deletion. Copy number variation analysis by ddPCR of the flanking regions confirmed that the deletion was specific and confined. The lack of GJA1 expression in the KO clones was confirmed by qPCR, while the lack of the CX43 protein was confirmed by immunofluorescence and Western Blot. This did not affect CX43-KO hiPSCs pluripotency state shown by the presence of pluripotent markers such as NANOG, OCT3/4, SSEA4. Additionally, CX43-KO hiPSCs were able to differentiate into the three germ layers. CX43-KO hiPSCs were successfully differentiated into hiPSC-CMs, -EPI, and -CFs. CX43-KO hiPSC-CMs and controls showed comparable gene expression of cardiac troponin T. Since immunofluorescent staining showed that CX43-KO hiPSC-EPI expressed the epicardial markers WT1 and ZO1, we continued to differentiate them into hiPSC-CFs, which expressed markers such as VIM and COL1A1, similar to the control. Differentiated CX43-KO hiPSC-CMs and CFs will be assembled into cardiac microtissues. Functional and structural assays that include patch-clamp and immunofluorescence will be performed on these microtissue to assess the effect of the CX43 KO on the maturation of hiPSC-CMs. Our results show that the lack of CX43 expression does not impede hiPSCs to differentiate into various cell types originating from the mesoderm germ layer.

Generating human skeletal myoblast spheroids for vascular myogenic tissue engineering

Engineered myogenic microtissues derived from human skeletal myoblasts offer unique opportunities for varying skeletal muscle tissue engineering applications, such as in vitro drug-testing and disease modelling. However, more complex models require the incorporation of vascular structures, which remains to be challenging. In this study, myogenic spheroids were generated using a high-throughput, non-adhesive micropatterned surface. Since monoculture spheroids containing human skeletal myoblasts were unable to remain their integrity, co-culture spheroids combining human skeletal myoblasts and human adipose-derived stem cells were created. When using the optimal ratio, uniform and viable spheroids with enhanced myogenic properties were achieved. Applying a pre-vascularization strategy, through addition of endothelial cells, resulted in the formation of spheroids containing capillary-like networks, lumina and collagen in the extracellular matrix, whilst retaining myogenicity. Moreover, sprouting of endothelial cells from the spheroids when encapsulated in fibrin was allowed. The possibility of spheroids, from different maturation stages, to assemble into a more large construct was proven by doublet fusion experiments. The relevance of using three-dimensional microtissues with tissue-specific microarchitecture and increased complexity, together with the high-throughput generation approach, makes the generated spheroids a suitable tool for in vitro drug-testing and human disease modeling.

Hypoxia-inducing cryogels uncover key cancer-immune cell interactions in an oxygen-deficient tumor microenvironment.

Hypoxia is a major factor shaping the immune landscape, and several cancer models have been developed to emulate hypoxic tumors. However, to date, they still have several limitations, such as the lack of reproducibility, inadequate biophysical cues, limited immune cell infiltration, and poor oxygen (O2) control, leading to non-pathophysiological tumor responses. Therefore, it is essential to develop better cancer models that mimic key features of the tumor extracellular matrix and recreate tumor-associated hypoxia while allowing cell infiltration and cancer-immune cell interactions. Herein, hypoxia-inducing cryogels (HICs) have been engineered using hyaluronic acid (HA) to fabricate three-dimensional microtissues and model a hypoxic tumor microenvironment. Specifically, tumor cell-laden HICs have been designed to deplete O2 locally and induce long-standing hypoxia. HICs promoted changes in hypoxia-responsive gene expression and phenotype, a metabolic adaptation to anaerobic glycolysis, and chemotherapy resistance. Additionally, HIC-supported tumor models induced dendritic cell (DC) inhibition, revealing a phenotypic change in the plasmacytoid DC (pDC) subset and an impaired conventional DC (cDC) response in hypoxia. Lastly, our HIC-based melanoma model induced CD8+ T cell inhibition, a condition associated with the downregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion, increased expression of immunomodulatory factors, and decreased degranulation and cytotoxic capacity of T cells. Overall, these data suggest that HICs can be used as a tool to model solid-like tumor microenvironments and has great potential to deepen our understanding of cancer-immune cell relationship in low O2 conditions and may pave the way for developing more effective therapies.

Creation of a Knee Joint-on-a-Chip for Modeling Joint Diseases and Testing Drugs

The high prevalence of debilitating joint diseases like osteoarthritis (OA) poses a high socioeconomic burden. Currently, the available drugs that target joint disorders are mostly palliative. The unmet need for effective disease-modifying OA drugs (DMOADs) has been primarily caused by the absence of appropriate models for studying the disease mechanisms and testing potential DMOADs. Herein, we describe the establishment of a miniature synovial joint-mimicking microphysiological system (miniJoint) comprising adipose, fibrous, and osteochondral tissue components derived from human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). To obtain the three-dimensional (3D) microtissues, MSCs were encapsulated in photocrosslinkable methacrylated gelatin before or following differentiation. The cell-laden tissue constructs were then integrated into a 3D-printed bioreactor, forming the miniJoint. Separate flows of osteogenic, fibrogenic, and adipogenic media were introduced to maintain the respective tissue phenotypes. A commonly shared stream was perfused through the cartilage, synovial, and adipose tissues to enable tissue crosstalk. This flow pattern allows the induction of perturbations in one or more of the tissue components for mechanistic studies. Furthermore, potential DMOADs can be tested via either "systemic administration" through all the medium streams or "intraarticular administration" by adding the drugs to only the shared "synovial fluid"-simulating flow. Thus, the miniJoint can serve as a versatile in vitro platform for efficiently studying disease mechanisms and testing drugs in personalized medicine.

Improved contractile potential in detrusor microtissues from pediatric patients with end stage lower urinary tract dysfunction.

Autologous cell-based tissue engineering has been proposed as a treatment option for end stage lower urinary tract dysfunction (ESLUTD). However, it is generally accepted that cells isolated from patient bladders retain the pathological properties of their tissue of origin and therefore need to be improved before they can serve as a cell source for tissue engineering applications. We hypothesize that human three-dimensional (3D) microtissues of detrusor smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are valuable ex vivo disease models and potent building blocks for bladder tissue engineering. Detrusor SMCs isolated from bladder wall biopsies of pediatric ESLUTD patients and healthy controls were expanded and cultured into 3D microtissues. Gene and protein analyses were performed to explore the effect of microtissue formation on SMC viability, contractile potential, bladder wall specific extracellular matrix (ECM) composition and mediators of ECM remodeling. Through microtissue formation, remodeling and intensified cell-cell interactions, the ESLUTD SMCs lost their characteristic disease phenotype. These microtissues exhibited similar patterns of smooth muscle related contractile proteins and essential bladder wall-specific ECM components as microtissues from healthy control subjects. Thus, the presented data suggest improved contractile potential and ECM composition in detrusor SMC microtissues from pediatric ESLUTD patients. These findings are of great relevance, as 3D detrusor SMC microtissues might be an appropriate cell source for autologous cell-based bladder tissue engineering.

The desmin mutation R349P increases contractility and fragility of stem cell-generated muscle micro-tissues.

Desminopathies comprise hereditary myopathies and cardiomyopathies caused by mutations in the intermediate filament protein desmin that lead to severe and often lethal degeneration of striated muscle tissue. Animal and single cell studies hinted that this degeneration process is associated with massive ultrastructural defects correlating with increased susceptibility of the muscle to acute mechanical stress. The underlying mechanism of mechanical susceptibility, and how muscle degeneration develops over time, however, has remained elusive. Here, we investigated the effect of a desmin mutation on the formation, differentiation, and contractile function of in vitro-engineered three-dimensional micro-tissues grown from muscle stem cells (satellite cells) isolated from heterozygous R349P desmin knock-in mice. Micro-tissues grown from desmin-mutated cells exhibited spontaneous unsynchronised contractions, higher contractile forces in response to electrical stimulation, and faster force recovery compared with tissues grown from wild-type cells. Within 1 week of culture, the majority of R349P desmin-mutated tissues disintegrated, whereas wild-type tissues remained intact over at least three weeks. Moreover, under tetanic stimulation lasting less than 5 s, desmin-mutated tissues partially or completely ruptured, whereas wild-type tissues did not display signs of damage. Our results demonstrate that the progressive degeneration of desmin-mutated micro-tissues is closely linked to extracellular matrix fibre breakage associated with increased contractile forces and unevenly distributed tensile stress. This suggests that the age-related degeneration of skeletal and cardiac muscle in patients suffering from desminopathies may be similarly exacerbated by mechanical damage from high-intensity muscle contractions. We conclude that micro-tissues may provide a valuable tool for studying the organization of myocytes and the pathogenic mechanisms of myopathies.

Combining Automated Organoid Workflows with Artificial Intelligence-Based Analyses: Opportunities to Build a New Generation of Interdisciplinary High-Throughput Screens for Parkinson's Disease and Beyond.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease and primarily characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta of the midbrain. Despite decades of research and the development of various disease model systems, there is no curative treatment. This could be due to current model systems, including cell culture and animal models, not adequately recapitulating human PD etiology. More complex human disease models, including human midbrain organoids, are maturing technologies that increasingly enable the strategic incorporation of the missing components needed to model PD in vitro. The resulting organoid-based biological complexity provides new opportunities and challenges in data analysis of rich multimodal data sets. Emerging artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities can take advantage of large, broad data sets and even correlate results across disciplines. Current organoid technologies no longer lack the prerequisites for large-scale high-throughput screening (HTS) and can generate complex yet reproducible data suitable for AI-based data mining. We have recently developed a fully scalable and HTS-compatible workflow for the generation, maintenance, and analysis of three-dimensional (3D) microtissues mimicking key characteristics of the human midbrain (called "automated midbrain organoids," AMOs). AMOs build a reproducible, scalable foundation for creating next-generation 3D models of human neural disease that can fuel mechanism-agnostic phenotypic drug discovery in human in vitro PD models and beyond. Here, we explore the opportunities and challenges resulting from the convergence of organoid HTS and AI-driven data analytics and outline potential future avenues toward the discovery of novel mechanisms and drugs in PD research. © 2021 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Permeable hollow 3D tissue-like constructs engineered by on-chip hydrodynamic-driven assembly of multicellular hierarchical micromodules

Engineered three-dimensional (3D) microtissues that recapitulate in vivo tissue morphology and microvessel lumens have shown significant potential in drug screening and regenerative medicine. Although microfluidic-based techniques have been developed for bottom-up assembly of 3D tissue models, the spatial organization of heterogeneous micromodules into tissue-specific 3D constructs with embedded microvessels remains challenging. Inspired by a hydrodynamic-based classic game which stacks rings in water through the flow, a facile strategy is proposed for effective assembly of heterogeneous hierarchical micromodules with a central hole, into permeable hollow 3D tissue-like constructs through hydrodynamic interaction in a versatile microfluidic chip. The micromodules are fabricated by in situ multi-step photo-crosslinking of cell-laden hydrogels with different mechanical properties to give the high fidelity. With the hydrodynamic interaction derived from the discontinuous circulating flow, the micromodules are spatially organized layer-by-layer to form a 3D construct with a microvessel-like lumen. As an example, a ten-layered liver lobule-like construct containing inner radial-like poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) structure with hepatocytes and outer hexagonal gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) structure with endothelial cells are assembled in 2 min. During 10 days of co-culture, cells maintain high viability and proliferated along with the composite lobule-like morphology. The 3D construct owns a central lumen, which allows perfusion culture to promote albumin secretion. We anticipate that this microassembly strategy can be used to fabricate vascularized 3D tissues with various physiological morphologies as alternatives for biomedical research applications. Statement of SignificanceMicrofluidic-based assembly is an attractive approach for the fabrication of 3D tissue models using cell-laden hydrogel microstructures with single mechanical stability. However, native tissues are complex 3D structures with indispensable vessels and multiple mechanical properties, which is still challenging to recreate. This study proposed a novel strategy to fabricate tissue-like 3D constructs with embedded lumen through hydrodynamic interaction using multicellular micromodules with hierarchical mechanical properties. The resultant hollow 3D constructs allow perfusion co-culture to enhance cell activity. This strategy relies on a simple and facile microfluidic chip to fabricate various 3D tissue-like constructs with hierarchical mechanical properties and permeable lumen, which can potentially be used as in vitro perfusion models for biomedical research.

Human-iPSC-Derived Cardiac Stromal Cells Enhance Maturation in 3D Cardiac Microtissues and Reveal Non-cardiomyocyte Contributions to Heart Disease.

SummaryCardiomyocytes (CMs) from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are functionally immature, but this is improved by incorporation into engineered tissues or forced contraction. Here, we showed that tri-cellular combinations of hiPSC-derived CMs, cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), and cardiac endothelial cells also enhance maturation in easily constructed, scaffold-free, three-dimensional microtissues (MTs). hiPSC-CMs in MTs with CFs showed improved sarcomeric structures with T-tubules, enhanced contractility, and mitochondrial respiration and were electrophysiologically more mature than MTs without CFs. Interactions mediating maturation included coupling between hiPSC-CMs and CFs through connexin 43 (CX43) gap junctions and increased intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP). Scaled production of thousands of hiPSC-MTs was highly reproducible across lines and differentiated cell batches. MTs containing healthy-control hiPSC-CMs but hiPSC-CFs from patients with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy strikingly recapitulated features of the disease. Our MT model is thus a simple and versatile platform for modeling multicellular cardiac diseases that will facilitate industry and academic engagement in high-throughput molecular screening.

Engineering liver microtissues for disease modeling and regenerative medicine.

The burden of liver diseases is increasing worldwide, accounting for two million deaths annually. In the past decade, tremendous progress has been made in the basic and translational research of liver tissue engineering. Liver microtissues are small, three-dimensional hepatocyte cultures that recapitulate liver physiology and have been used in biomedical research and regenerative medicine. This review summarizes recent advances, challenges, and future directions in liver microtissue research. Cellular engineering approaches are used to sustain primary hepatocytes or produce hepatocytes derived from pluripotent stem cells and other adult tissues. Three-dimensional microtissues are generated by scaffold-free assembly or scaffold-assisted methods such as macroencapsulation, droplet microfluidics, and bioprinting. Optimization of the hepatic microenvironment entails incorporating the appropriate cell composition for enhanced cell-cell interactions and niche-specific signals, and creating scaffolds with desired chemical, mechanical and physical properties. Perfusion-based culture systems such as bioreactors and microfluidic systems are used to achieve efficient exchange of nutrients and soluble factors. Taken together, systematic optimization of liver microtissues is a multidisciplinary effort focused on creating liver cultures and on-chip models with greater structural complexity and physiological relevance for use in liver disease research, therapeutic development, and regenerative medicine.

A Novel Lipidomics-Based Approach to Evaluating the Risk of Clinical Hepatotoxicity Potential of Drugs in 3D Human Microtissues.

The importance of adsorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) analysis is expected to grow substantially due to recent failures in detecting severe toxicity issues of new chemical entities during preclinical/clinical development. Traditionally, safety risk assessment studies for humans have been conducted in animals during advanced preclinical or clinical phase of drug development. However, potential drug toxicity in humans now needs to be detected in the drug discovery process as soon as possible without reliance on animal studies. The "omics", such as genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, have recently entered pharmaceutical research in both drug discovery and drug development, but to the best of our knowledge, no applications in high-throughput safety risk assessment have been attempted so far. This paper reports an innovative method to anticipate adverse drug effects in an early discovery phase based on lipid fingerprints using human three-dimensional microtissues. The risk of clinical hepatotoxicity potential was evaluated for a data set of 22 drugs belonging to five different therapeutic chemical classes and with various drug-induced liver injury effect. The treatment of microtissues with repeated doses of each drug allowed collecting lipid fingerprints for five time points (2, 4, 7, 9, and 11 days), and multivariate statistical analysis was applied to search for correlations with the hepatotoxic effect. The method allowed clustering of the drugs based on their hepatotoxic effect, and the observed lipid impairments for a number of drugs was confirmed by literature sources. Compared to traditional screening methods, here multiple interconnected variables (lipids) are measured simultaneously, providing a snapshot of the cellular status from the lipid perspective at a molecular level. Applied here to hepatotoxicity, the proposed workflow can be applied to several tissues, being tridimensional microtissues from various origins.

3D microtissue–derived human stem cells seeded on electrospun nanocomposites under shear stress: Modulation of gene expression

ObjectiveDifferent microenvironments trigger distinct differentiation of stem cells. Even without chemical supplementation, mechanical stimulation by shear stress may help to induce the desired differentiation. The cell format, such as three-dimensional (3D) microtissues (MTs), MT-derived cells or single cells (SCs), may have a pivotal impact as well. Here, we studied modulation of gene expression in human adipose–derived stem cells (ASCs) exposed to shear stress and/or after MT formation. Materials and methodsElectrospun meshes of poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid and amorphous calcium phosphate nanoparticles (PLGA/aCaP) at a weight ratio of 60:40 were seeded with human ASCs as MTs or as SCs and cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium without chemical supplementation. After 2 weeks of static culture, the scaffolds were cultured statically for another 2 weeks or placed in a Bose® bioreactor with a flow rate per area of 0.16 mL cm−2 min−1. Stiffness of the scaffolds was assessed as a function of time. After 4 weeks, minimum stem cell criteria markers and selected markers of osteogenesis, endothelial cell differentiation, adipogenesis and chondrogenesis were analysed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Additionally, cell distribution within the scaffolds and the allocation of the yes-associated protein (YAP) in the cells were assessed by immunohistochemistry. ResultsMTs decayed completely within 2 weeks after seeding on PLGA/aCaP. The osteogenic marker gene alkaline phosphatase and the endothelial cell marker gene CD31 were upregulated in MT-derived ASCs compared with SCs. Shear stress realised by fluid flow perfusion upregulated peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor gamma 2 expression in MT-derived ASCs and in SCs. The nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio of YAP expression was doubled under perfusion compared with that under static culture for MT-derived ASCs and SCs. ConclusionsOsteogenic and angiogenic commitments were more pronounced in MT-derived ASCs seeded on bone biomimetic electrospun nanocomposite PLGA/aCaP than in SCs seeded without induction medium. Furthermore, the static culture was superior to the perfusion regimen used here, as shear stress resulted in adipogenic commitment for MT-derived ASCs and SCs, although the YAP nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio indicated higher cell tensions under perfusion, usually associated with preferred osteogenic differentiation.

Surface and Bulk Stresses Drive Morphological Changes in Fibrous Microtissues

Engineered fibrous tissues consisting of cells encapsulated within collagen gels are widely used three-dimensional in vitro models of morphogenesis and wound healing. Although cell-mediated matrix remodeling that occurs within these scaffolds has been extensively studied, less is known about the mesoscale physical principles governing the dynamics of tissue shape. Here, we show both experimentally and by using computer simulations how surface contraction through the development of surface stresses (analogous to surface tension in fluids) coordinates with bulk contraction to drive shape evolution in constrained three-dimensional microtissues. We used microelectromechanical systems technology to generate arrays of fibrous microtissues and robot-assisted microsurgery to perform local incisions and implantation. We introduce a technique based on phototoxic activation of a small molecule to selectively kill cells in a spatially controlled manner. The model simulations, which reproduced the experimentally observed shape changes after surgical and photochemical operations, indicate that fitting of only bulk and surface contractile moduli is sufficient for the prediction of the equilibrium shape of the microtissues. The computational and experimental methods we have developed provide a general framework to study and predict the morphogenic states of contractile fibrous tissues under external loading at multiple length scales.

Gelatin-Coated Microfluidic Channels for 3D Microtissue Formation: On-Chip Production and Characterization.

Traditional two-dimensional (2D) cell culture models are limited in their ability to reproduce human structures and functions. On the contrary, three-dimensional (3D) microtissues have the potential to permit the development of new cell-based assays as advanced in vitro models to test new drugs. Here, we report the use of a dehydrated gelatin film to promote tumor cells aggregation and 3D microtissue formation. The simple and stable gelatin coating represents an alternative to conventional and expensive materials like type I collagen, hyaluronic acid, or matrigel. The gelatin coating is biocompatible with several culture formats including microfluidic chips, as well as standard micro-well plates. It also enables long-term 3D cell culture and in situ monitoring of live/dead assays.

Microrobotic Assembly of Shape-Customized Three-Dimensional Microtissues Based on Surface Tension Driven Self-Alignment

Engineered microscale tissues that replicate in vivo architectures have shown huge potential in drug discovery and regenerative medicine. This letter reports a microrobotic assembly method to fabricate three-dimensional (3-D) microtissues reproducing arbitrary morphologies of native tissues. Cell-laden micromodules are photo-crosslinked with cell-mixed hydrogel, which can be formed into customized shapes embedding circular lumen. The micromodules are sequentially picked up and spatially reorganized as a 3-D microarchitecture with the hydrodynamic interaction. In the interaction, all the micromodules are driven by the surface tension between water-oil multiphase, which simultaneously aligns both the geometric outline and lumens of micromodules to mimic the morphology and vessel-mimetic hollow structure of native tissues. As the driven force is proportional to the surface area of the micromodules exposed to the oil, the shape design parameters of micromodules are optimized to achieve accurate self-alignment of the microtissues. We anticipate that our method will regenerate complex tissues with physiological importance in future tissue engineering.

Determination of minimum serum concentration to develop scaffold free micro-tissue

Objective. Formation of three-dimensional (3D) micro-tissues without scaffolds are widely used not only to define in vivo tissue formation mechanisms but also the development of different tissue-specific drugs. However, depending on high serum and growth factor concentrations, it would be hard to identify major effective biological cues on micro-tissue formation. The aim of the study is to determine the effect of different serum concentrations on Human Umbilicial Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) micro-tissue formation. Methods. Micro-tissue of HUVEC line was formed by using 3D petri dish technique with medium containing 0%, 1%, 5% and 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). On the 7 th day after micro-tissue formation, live/dead cells analysis was conducted. Micrograph taken on days 1, 3, 5 and 7 th of micro-tissue formation were determined by image analysis with ImageJ. Results. Sizes of micro-tissue formed with 0% FBS on day 1 and 3 determined as 277 ± 12 µm and 279 ± 20 µm, respectively; however, especially on day 7 micro-tissue size significantly decreased to 229 ± 6 µm. When live/dead analysis results were examined, high cell viability was observed in 5% and 10% FBS concentration. Although micro-tissue like structures were observed in 0% and 1% FBS concentrations dead cell ratio considerably increased compared to 5% and 10% FBS concentration. Conclusions. It has been determined that 0% and 1% serum are appropriate for determining the efficacy of biomimetic peptides and different extracellular matrix proteins on micro-tissue formation parameters of HUVEC. High cell viability in micro-tissues was observed with 5% and 10% serum concentrations.

Featured Article: Invitro development of personalized cartilage microtissues uncovers an individualized differentiation capacity of human chondrocytes.

Personalized features in the treatment of knee injuries and articular replacement therapies play an important role in modern life with increasing demand. Therefore, cell-based therapeutic approaches for the regeneration of traumatic defects of cartilage tissue were developed. However, great variations in the quality of repair tissue or therapeutic outcome were observed. The aim of the study was to capture and visualize individual differentiation capacities of chondrocytes derived from different donors with regard to a possible personal regeneration capacity using a cell-based therapy. The redifferentiation potential of monolayer cultured cells was analyzed in a scaffold-free three-dimensional tissue model. Furthermore, stimulating options using cartilage maturation factors such as L-ascorbic acid and transforming growth factor beta 2 (TGF-β2) on this process were of special interest. Cells and tissues were analyzed via histological and immunohistochemical methods. Gene expression was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. In monolayer culture, cells from all donors showed an almost identical differentiation profile. In contrast, the differentiation state of cartilage-like three-dimensional microtissues revealed clear differences with respect to individual donors. Analyses at the protein and mRNA levels showed high variations regarding cartilage-typical matrix components (e.g. proteoglycans, collagen type II) and intracellular proteins (e.g. S100). Interestingly, only donor chondrocytes with a basic tendency to re-differentiate in a three-dimensional environment were able to increase this tissue-specific maturation when exposed to L-ascorbic acid and/or TGF-β2. Our approach revealed clear-cut possibilities for classification of individual donors into responders or non-responders. On the basis of these results an invitro platform could be designed to discriminate responders from non-responders. This invitro three-dimensional test system may be a suitable basis to establish a "personalized diagnostic tool" with the opportunity to assess the capacity of expanded chondrocytes to respond to an autologous cell-based therapy. Impact statement A challenge in cell-based cartilage regeneration therapies is the identification of a "personalized diagnostic tool" to predict the chondrogenic potency of cells from patients who are going to be treated with autologous cells. Comparing the phenotype of isolated chondrocytes from different donors invitro revealed an individual cartilage-specific differentiation capacity. These personalized features are not detectable invitro until the monolayer cells have the possibility to rearrange in 3D tissues. Cells from articular cartilage in monolayer culture may not be a suitable basis to discriminate responders from non-responders with respect to a personalized cell-based therapy to treat cartilage defects. A more physiological 3D (micro-)environment enable the cells to present their individual differentiation capacity. The here described microtissue model might be the basis for an invitro platform to predict the therapeutic outcome of autologous cell-based cartilage repair and/or a suitable tool to identify early biomarkers to classify the patients.

Polyurethane Microgel Based Microtissue: Interface-Guided Assembly and Spreading.

Colloidal gels are three-dimensional networks of microgel particles and can be utilized to design microtissues where the differential adhesive interactions between the particles and cells, guided by their surface energetics, are engineered to spatially assemble the cellular and colloidal components into three-dimensional microtissues. In this work we utilized a colloidal interaction approach to design cell-polyurethane (PU) microgel bimodal microtissues using endothelial cells (ECs) as a normal cell model and a nonmalignant breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) as a cancer cell model. PU microgels were developed from a library of segmental polyurethanes with poly(ethylene glycol) soft segment and aliphatic diisocyanate/l-tyrosine based chain extender as hard segment to modulate the interactions between PU colloidal particles and cells. The surface energies of the microgel particles and cells were estimated using Zisman's critical surface tension and van Oss-Good-Chaudhury theory (vOGCT) from liquid contact angle analysis. Binary interaction potentials between colloidal PU particles and cells and the ternary interaction between colloidal PU particle, cell, and collagen I/Matrigel were calculated to explain the formation of microtissues and their spreading in extraneous biomatrix respectively by using classical and extended DLVO theory (XDLVO). Furthermore, rheological analysis and in silico simulations were used to analyze the assembly and spreading of the PU microgel based microtissues. In vitro experiments showed that ECs and MCF-7 displayed more differentiated (EC spreading/MCF-7 lumen formation) character when mixed with microgel particles that were stable in aqueous medium and more undifferentiated character (EC nonspreading/MCF-7 spreading) when mixed with microgel particles unstable in aqueous medium.

Flushing out the scattering: fast on-chip microfluidic clearing of microtissues

By generating three-dimensional microtissues or organoids that better mimic the in vivo cellular functions than the two-dimensional cell cultures, the organ-on-a-chip technologies have been playing an increasingly important role in fundamental biology and drug discovery (1). The fast-growing on-chip microfluidic field is accompanied by the high demand for on-site imaging of the microtissues’ morphology, function, and molecular signatures. Clearly, to image the three-dimensional microtissues, the imaging technique should ideally provide volumetric information, together with microscopic resolutions for cellular or even subcellular analysis (2). Although many imaging modalities possess three-dimensional imaging capability, only optical microscopy, primarily the confocal microscopy and multi-photon microscopy, has the required spatial resolution and molecular/chemical sensitivity, and thus is widely used with on-chip microfluidic systems (3). However, the biological tissues are notoriously unfriendly to photons, with strong optical scattering resulted from the inhomogeneous distribution of subcellular structures, including cell membranes, nuclei, and mitochondria (4). High-resolution optical microscopy often suffers from the strong optical scattering of tissues, leading to a shallow imaging depth of a few hundred micrometers.