The Importance and Clinical Relevance of Surfaces in Tissue Culture

Abstract

Cell and tissue culture has evolved from the use of simple glassware for the propagation of cells and tissues into a comprehensive platform for interrogating complex biological systems, directing cell fate and deriving products with clinical and therapeutic value.However, despite significant advances, current in vitro culture approaches remain limited in their capacity to model the clinical/biological complexities of disease, in part at least due to the deficiencies of existing culture materials. The challenge is therefore to identify innovative materials-based solutions that have greater control over cells in vitro, while better representing biological systems in vivo. Such platforms would be suitable for biomarker discovery and tissue engineering applications. This review examines the development of tissue culture materials, advances in our understanding of cell-surface interactions and the application of this knowledge towards the development of new approaches for better examining biological events.3 he ability to culture cells and tissues in vitro is a fundamental aspect of modern science. Established early in the twentieth century, notably through the work of Harrison R.G. of John Hopkins University 1 , the ability to culture cells and tissues has markedly improved during the intervening period. The field has progressed from an ability to maintain and culture tissue for extended periods, through the discovery and establishment of immortal cell lines, to today, where tissue engineering is making considerable progress in the production of artificial tissues and organs in vitro [2][3][4] . Key to these successes have been advances in the culture surfaces on which cells and tissues are grown.This review summarizes progress in the development of tissue culture materials, highlights current requirements and existing limitations for in vitro culture, and examines their relevance to clinical questions and our current understanding of tissue culture materials design. Although long-established, current culture materials may not always be appropriate for modelling in vivo conditions, and innovative strategies are therefore required in order to overcome existing limitations. Current Issues with Tissue Culture:Numerous articles have highlighted the drawbacks and limitations of current in vitro culture systems 5,6 . Concerns revolve around deficiencies in the culture systems and the tissue they generate. Although the latter can be linked to the quality of the initial cellular material, contamination and/or poor maintenance of historical cell lines 6,7 , it can also result from deficiencies in the culture systems i.e. not all cell populations are amenable to in vitro culture.Problems are compounded once tissue enters in vitro culture, as derived populations are expected to maintain their in vivo relevance. However, cells naturally adapt to the local environment and T 4 prolonged culture of immortalized cell lines results in a progressive divergence from the parental population 6,8,9 . Although loss or gain of ab...

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