Summary
Published in Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods (2018), this peer-reviewed study used 3D Petri Dish® micro-molds to form scaffold-free 3D microtissues. Full citation: Hori, Takeshi, et al. A Three-Dimensional Cell Culture Method with a Micromesh Sheet and Its Application to Hepatic Cells
A Three-Dimensional Cell Culture Method with a Micromesh Sheet and Its Application to Hepatic Cells
Research Overview
3D hepatocyte cultures are increasingly used to assess human hepatic metabolism and toxicity in drug development. This study developed a 3D culture method built on a microstructured mesh sheet whose strands and apertures are each much larger than a single cell, applied to human HepG2 hepatoma cells.
Proliferating on the micromesh, the cells first spread in a planar manner and then formed a multilayered sheet in which cell-cell adhesion dominated over cell-substrate adhesion — the opposite of what happens in 2D culture, and the condition that supports hepatic phenotype.
Key Discoveries
- Micromesh sheet with cell-scale apertures induced multilayered hepatocyte sheets
- Cell-cell adhesion became dominant over cell-substrate adhesion, unlike 2D culture
- Applied to HepG2 cells for hepatic metabolism and toxicity assessment
