Water-in-PDMS Emulsion Templating of Highly Interconnected Porous Architectures for 3D Cell Culture

Abstract

The development of advanced techniques of fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) microenvironments for the study of cell growth and proliferation has become one of the major motivations of material scientists and bioengineers in the past decade. Here, we present a novel residueless 3D structuration technique of poly­(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) by water-in-PDMS emulsion casting and subsequent curing process in temperature-/pressure-controlled environment. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray microcomputed tomography allowed us to investigate the impact of those parameters on the microarchitecture of the porous structure. We demonstrated that the optimized emulsion casting process gives rise to large-scale and highly interconnected network with pore size ranging from 500 μm to 1.5 mm that turned out to be nicely adapted to 3D cell culture. Experimental cell culture validations were performed using SaOS-2 (osteosarcoma) cell lines. Epifluorescence and deep penetration imaging techniques as two-photon confocal microscopy unveiled information about cell morphology and confirmed a homogeneous cell proliferation and spatial distribution in the 3D porous structure within an available volume larger than 1 cm3. These results open alternative scenarios for the fabrication and integration of porous scaffolds for the development of 3D cell culture platforms.

In vitro three-dimensional cell cultures for bone sarcomas

“…However, the random pattern, which is closer to real bone structure, induced a better distribution and organization of collagen fibres [97] . Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is widely used as material to produce microfluidic devices but it can be also used as a scaffold for cell cultures [98] . A water-PDMS emulsion was used as a porous template for SaOS2 OS proliferation.…”

“…Playing with different curing parameters for PDMS and pressure, Riesco et al generated various grades of PDMS reticulation that allowed proper adhesion and proliferation of OS cells. Moreover, this system provides a fast and cheap way to produce scaffolds in mass [98] . As mentioned before, PDMS is the most commonly used material for microfluidic device fabrication ( Fig.…”

Microfluidic Technology for the Production of Well-Ordered Porous Polymer Scaffolds

“…The polymerization of continuous phase results in what was known as polyHIPE. A porous polymeric material was acquired after solidification of the continuous phase and removal of the dispersed phase [ 75 , 76 , 77 ]. However, the average diameters of pores and interconnects were smaller than 100 and 40 μm, respectively, which impeded cell migration.…”

Engineered 3D Polymer and Hydrogel Microenvironments for Cell Culture Applications

“…Process and Material PDMS is an inert, viscoelastic, and non-toxic silicone. It is hydrophobic, and surface treatments such as plasma oxidation or functionalization is needed for hydrophilicity [186][187][188]. As such, in terms of microfabrication for biomedical applications, it is mainly used as an intermediate stamp for pattern transfer.…”