Encapsulation alginato de pluripotentes células estaminais utilizando um bocal Co-axial

Summary

We established a method of encapsulating pluripotent stem cells (PS cells) into alginate hydrogel capsules using a co-axial nozzle. This prevents cells from aggregating excessively and limits the shear stress experienced by cells in suspension culture. The technique is applicable to the mass production of PS cells as well as research on stem cell niche.

Abstract

Pluripotent stem cells (PS cells) are the focus of intense research due to their role in regenerative medicine and drug screening. However, the development of a mass culture system would be required for using PS cells in these applications. Suspension culture is one promising culture method for the mass production of PS cells, although some issues such as controlling aggregation and limiting shear stress from the culture medium are still unsolved. In order to solve these problems, we developed a method of calcium alginate (Alg-Ca) encapsulation using a co-axial nozzle. This method can control the size of the capsules easily by co-flowing N₂ gas. The controllable capsule diameter must be larger than 500 µm because too high a flow rate of N₂ gas causes the breakdown of droplets and thus heterogeneous-sized capsules. Moreover, a low concentration of Alg-Na and CaCl₂ causes non-spherical capsules. Although an Alg-Ca capsule without a coating of Alg-PLL easily dissolves enabling the collection of cells, they can also potentially leak out from capsules lacking an Alg-PLL coating. Indeed, an alginate-PLL coating can prevent cellular leakage but is also hard to break. This technology can be used to research the stem cell niche as well as the mass production of PS cells because encapsulation can modify the micro-environment surrounding cells including the extracellular matrix and the concentration of secreted factors.

Introduction

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) are currently the source of intense research due to their role in regenerative medicine. However, huge amounts of cells are required for tissue regeneration. For instance approximately one billion pancreatic cells required for a type 1 diabetic patient¹. However, conventional dish culture is only able to obtain 1 × 10⁵ cells/cm², thus requiring 1 m² of culture area to obtain enough stem cell-derived pancreatic cells to treat a type 1 diabetic patient. The development of a system for the mass-culture of pluripotent stem cells, such as microcarrier² and suspension culture is therefore required for regenerative medicine. Suspension culture represents a promising method of mass culture but controlling the aggregation of cells is challenging in direct suspension cultures of human iPS cells³. Indeed, suspended cells are exposed to shear stress, which causes cell damage³ or differentiation⁴.

Research into hydrogel-based encapsulation has been conducted to solve problems associated with suspension culture. In hydrogel capsules, cells are protected from the flow of the medium. Previous reports have documented the use of various types of hydrogel, including agarose⁵, PEG⁶, and alginate (Alg), for cellular encapsulation. Alg-Ca hydrogel is one of the most useful hydrogels for cell encapsulation because Alg−Ca hydrogel is formed immediately after dropping alginate solution into a CaCl₂ solution and is also readily digested by enzymes or chelating reagents.

Here, we have established a stable alginate encapsulation process for iPS cells using a co-axial nozzle. By using N₂ gas flow for forming droplets, it is possible to encapsulate cells into uniform capsules without the need for other reagents such as oil. In this method, the flow rate of N₂ and concentration of both CaCl₂ and alginate are the major operating conditions affecting the size, shape, and uniformity of capsules. This report demonstrates the optimization of these operating conditions through the use of a hi-speed camera and a microscope.

Protocol

1. Materiais Preparando Preparar tampão HEPES 10 mM. Ajustar o pH para 7,0 à TA e adicionar NaCl a 0,9%. Preparar a solução de alginato e 5% de solução de EDTA a 10 mM através da mistura de solução salina tamponada com HEPES preparado em 1.1. Ajustar o pH para 7,0 à temperatura ambiente. Autoclave os reagentes (1.1, 1.2) durante 20 min a 121 ° C. Preparar 60 milímetros pratos revestidos com gelatina em camadas com 1,2-2,0 x 10 6 de fibroblastos de rato embr…

Representative Results

No protocolo de 2,5, a solução de alginato expelido forma uma forma esférica imediatamente após a expulsão (Figura 2A – H). Se a suspensão é expulso com uma taxa de fluxo de N2 inferior a 1 L / min, o tamanho das gotículas é uniforme (Figura 2I). No entanto, se o fluxo de N2 é superior a 1 L / min, a gotícula de quebra (Figura 2G, de setas brancas) e o tamanho das gotas se torna heterogéneo (Figura 2J). Sendo assim, é …

Discussion

A encapsulação pode ser cultura em comparação com as culturas em suspensão directos. Cultura em suspensão é um método mais simples para obter grandes quantidades de células estaminais pluripotentes que os métodos de encapsulamento. No entanto, controlando a agregação de células numa cultura em suspensão é ainda difícil. No método de encapsulamento, agregação celular é limitado em cápsulas e podem, portanto, ser bem controlada. A publicação anterior mostrou que células encapsuladas formado a…

Materials

Mouse embryo fibroblast	Cell Biolabs	SNL 76/7
Mouse induced pluripotent stem cell	RIKEN Bio resorce centre	iPS-MEF-Ng-20D-17
DMEM high-glucose	GIBCO	11995
ES qualified  FBS	GIBCO	16141079
Antibacterial Antibiotics	GIBCO	15240
Nonessential Amino Acid	GIBCO	11140
2-mercaptoethanol	GIBCO	21985-023
ESGRO Leukemia Inhibitory Factor	Merck Millipore	ESG1107
Trypsin/EDTA	GIBCO	25300
26G/16G needle	Hoshiseido
10 mL Syringe	TERUMO	SS-10ESZ
Sodium  Chloride	Wako	191-01665
HEPES	SIGMA	H4034
Sodium Alginate	Wako	194-09955
Calcium Chloride	Wako	039-00475
Poly-L-lysine (Mw=15,000-30,000)	SIGMA	P7890
EDTA	DOJINDO	345-01865
Sylinge pump	AS ONE
Microscope	Olympus	IX71
Microscope	Leica	DM IRB
Hispeed camera	nac image technology	Memrecam HX-3