Engineering Approach to Microcarrier Surface Design. Final Report

摘要

The goal of the project is to develop modified plastic surfaces which will support the growth of cells otherwise difficult or impossible to grow in vitro, and for use in large scale cell culture for efficient manufacture of cells and other tissue culture products. The research attempted to alter the microcarrier surface, independent of its bulk properties, without the necessity of post-treatment. This was accomplished by modifying well-known suspension polymerization techniques to produce microcarrier beads with the desired surface chemical functionalities. In the surface modification, biologically derived or totally synthetic polymers to mimic a biological surface are incorporated into the surface. Nine microcarrier formulations were tested for culture of PC12 neuronal cells. The nine different microcarriers represented a matrix of alternatives to a Plastek C microcarrier using four alternative bound moieties representing two natural, biologically-derived macromolecules and two synthetic macromolecules. Some of the modified microcarriers showed a significantly enhanced growth and a variety of ultrastructural growth habits of the neuronal cells when compared with either the standard Plastek C microcarrier or a Cytodex I microcarrier.