Evaluation of Three-Dimensional Porous Iron-Cross-Linked Alginate as a Scaffold for Cell Culture. (6th February 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Machida-Sano, Ikuko; Ogawa, Sakito; Hirakawa, Makoto; Namiki, Hideo
• Other Names: Laurienzo P. Academic Editor.; Tsai W.-B. Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: ISRN biomaterials. Volume 2014(2014)
• Publication Date: 2014-02-06
• Subjects: Biomedical materials -- Periodicals; 610.28
• DOI: 10.1155/2014/375758
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2314-4025

Abstract

Abstract : We investigated the efficacy of three-dimensional porous ferric-ion-cross-linked alginate (Fe-alginate) gels as cell scaffolds, in comparison with calcium-ion-cross-linked alginate (Ca-alginate) gels. In a previous study, we had demonstrated that two-dimensional Fe-alginate film was an efficient material for use as a scaffold, allowing good cell adhesion and proliferation, unlike Ca-alginate film. In the present study, we fabricated three-dimensional porous Fe- and Ca-alginate gels by freeze-drying and evaluated their effects on cultured cells. The Fe-alginate gels showed higher protein adsorption ability than Ca-alginate gels. Cells formed multicellular spheroids in both types of alginate scaffold, but the number of cultured cells increased with culture time on Fe-alginate porous gels, whereas those on Ca-alginate gels did not. Moreover, it was revealed that the cells on Fe-alginate scaffolds were still viable inside the multicellular spheroids even after cultivation for 14 days. These results suggest that Fe-alginate provides a superior porous scaffold suitable for three-dimensional culture of cells. Our findings may be useful for extending the application of Fe-alginate to diverse biomedical fields.