Aqueous two-phase emulsions-templated tailorable porous alginate beads f
or 3D cell culture
Tiantian Liu, Shuting Yi, Gang Liu, Xin Hao, Ting Du, Jialin Chen, Tao Meng, Ping Li*, Yaolei Wang*
School of Life Sciences and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610031, PR China
Highlights
• Alginate beads with controllable interconnected porous structure were prepared.
• Aqueous two-phase emulsions without non-biocompatible reagents were used as templates.
• Direct cell encapsulation in porous beads for 3D cell culture was realized.
• Better cellular behaviors were acquired in porous alginate beads.
Abstract
A facile method was developed to produce porous alginate beads (PABs) with a controllable interconnected porous structure with aqueous two phase (ATPS) emulsions as template for 3D cell culture. ATPS emulsions, containing two biocompatible immiscible aqueous phases of cell/dextran (Dex) mixture and alginate (Alg)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) mixture and stabilized by mPEG-BSA particles, were introduced to form PABs. The pore size of PABs could be controlled by changing the emulsification frequency and the volume ratio between the ATPS emulsions and PEG-Alg solution. Moreover, cells could be directly encapsulated in the interconnected pores due to the excellent biocompatibility of ATPS. HeLa and human liver cancer cells encapsulated in the PABs present stronger cell activity (>95 %), proliferation, and enhanced functions compared with the cells encapsulated in general alginate beads (GABs). It is believed that the PABs is a promising microcarriers for 3D cell culture in vitro.
