Issue 19, 2011

Enzyme-passage free culture of mouse embryonic stem cells on thermo-responsive polymer surfaces

Abstract

Cell based therapies offer potentially revolutionary treatments for a number of diseases, but are dependent on the culture and supply of defined cell types in appropriate numbers. In turn, this supply requires changes to current cell culture passaging methods, which commonly use enzymatic digestion. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, the use of thermoresponsive poly(methoxyethoxyethylmethacrylate-co-oligoethyleneglycolmethacrylate) (poly(MEO2MA-co-OEGMA)) as a responsive surface on which to culture embryonic stem cells (mouse; used as a model embryonic stem cell type). Thermo-responsive copolymer brushes composed of MEO2MA and OEGMA were grafted from hydroxyl plasma-polymer functionalised glass slides using atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP) and their thermo-responsive behaviour characterised. Feeder-free mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) were seeded on these surfaces following adsorption of fibronectin (to encourage cell attachment) and cultured for three days. Subsequent passaging experiments were performed over 10 passage cycles and the cells analysed for population doubling times and retention of the stem cell geno/phenotype. These thermoresponsive polymer/fibronectin surfaces were found to be suitable for mESC culture without promoting differentiation during the early stages of culture. This indicated that these materials have promise as a new generation of culture materials for enzyme free cell culture and passage suitable for generating cell populations for clinical applications.

Graphical abstract: Enzyme-passage free culture of mouse embryonic stem cells on thermo-responsive polymer surfaces

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Nov 2010
Accepted
07 Mar 2011
First published
06 Apr 2011

J. Mater. Chem., 2011,21, 6883-6890

Enzyme-passage free culture of mouse embryonic stem cells on thermo-responsive polymer surfaces

S. Dey, B. Kellam, M. R. Alexander, C. Alexander and F. R. A. J. Rose, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 6883 DOI: 10.1039/C0JM03993D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Spotlight

Advertisements