Currently, cells are routinely cultured in vitro using 2 dimensional (2D) cell culture techniques. It has been well documented that cell culture in tissue culture plates and flasks does not mimic the in vivo cell growth. Therefore, the cell expansion and cell-drug interactions under 2D are not appropriate in vitro models. 3D cell culture technique, on the other hand, offers a better cell culture environment because it is one step closer to the in vivo cell growth environment. However, because 2D culture is easy to carry out and there are no satisfactory 3D cell culture devices available, 2D cell culture is still the predominately used cell culture technique. As a publication in the journal Nature pointed out, “Awareness of the potential of 3D tissue culture among scientists is far too low. But the benefits of the technique are so self-evident that little marketing will be needed to persuade the uninitiated to move up one dimension, just as soon as the issues of convenience are resolved” [Nature, Vol. 424, 21, August 2003].
Having realized the importance of conducting cell culture under 3D, 3D Biotek has been working on developing easy to use 3D cell culture devices. The initial application of these 3D cell culture devices will be primarily in the following two fields and will expand to other cell culture related fields gradually.
3D InsertTM , is a very powerful tool in conducting stem cell in vitro expansion, differentiation, and tissue engineering researches. It has been demonstrated in our experiment and in many scientific publications that stem cell growth and differentiation can be significantly enhanced in 3D environment, such as in 3D porous scaffolds (Please see references in Knowledge Base, and 3D Biotek's experimental data).
3D InsertTM for stem cell/tissue engineering research application is fabricated from both biodegradable and non-biodegradable polymers, such as polycaprolactone (PCL) and polystyrene (PS).
Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a biodegradable polymer which has been used in fabrication of surgical implants. It has also been extensively studied as a biodegradable scaffold material for tissue engineering applications (list of references). PCL 3D InsertTM is biodegradable with various precisely controlled porous structure to meet you needs (Please see Products & Services and shop at our Online Store).
Polystyrene (PS) is the polymer that is used in fabrication of various cell culture vessels, such as tissue culture plates (TCP) and tissue culture flasks. They are non-cytotoxic and crystal clear. Similarly, PS 3D InsertTM is tissue culture surface treated and transparent. The transparence of the PS 3D InsertTM is a huge advantage comparing to other porous scaffolds because it makes it possible for researchers to directly observe the cell growth under routine cell culture inverted microscope. This means that 3D cell culture can be conducted very continently and economically without the need of adding expensive instruments. It also means that all routine 2D cell culture protocols can be easily adapted to 3D cell culture with few changes. PS 3D InsertTM is suitable for 3D stem cell expansion and differentiaion. It can also be used as an excellent control and co-culture device for biodegradable 3D InsertTM.
Other types of biodegradable 3D InsertTM, such as PLGA , PLA 3D InsertTM are currently under development and will be available soon to meet you needs.