Alginate Encapsulation of Pluripotent Stem Cells Using a Co-axial Nozzle

Summary

We established a method of encapsulating pluripotent stem cells (PS cells) into alginate hydrogel capsules using a co-axial nozzle. This prevents cells from aggregating excessively and limits the shear stress experienced by cells in suspension culture. The technique is applicable to the mass production of PS cells as well as research on stem cell niche.

Abstract

Pluripotent stem cells (PS cells) are the focus of intense research due to their role in regenerative medicine and drug screening. However, the development of a mass culture system would be required for using PS cells in these applications. Suspension culture is one promising culture method for the mass production of PS cells, although some issues such as controlling aggregation and limiting shear stress from the culture medium are still unsolved. In order to solve these problems, we developed a method of calcium alginate (Alg-Ca) encapsulation using a co-axial nozzle. This method can control the size of the capsules easily by co-flowing N₂ gas. The controllable capsule diameter must be larger than 500 µm because too high a flow rate of N₂ gas causes the breakdown of droplets and thus heterogeneous-sized capsules. Moreover, a low concentration of Alg-Na and CaCl₂ causes non-spherical capsules. Although an Alg-Ca capsule without a coating of Alg-PLL easily dissolves enabling the collection of cells, they can also potentially leak out from capsules lacking an Alg-PLL coating. Indeed, an alginate-PLL coating can prevent cellular leakage but is also hard to break. This technology can be used to research the stem cell niche as well as the mass production of PS cells because encapsulation can modify the micro-environment surrounding cells including the extracellular matrix and the concentration of secreted factors.

Introduction

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) are currently the source of intense research due to their role in regenerative medicine. However, huge amounts of cells are required for tissue regeneration. For instance approximately one billion pancreatic cells required for a type 1 diabetic patient¹. However, conventional dish culture is only able to obtain 1 × 10⁵ cells/cm², thus requiring 1 m² of culture area to obtain enough stem cell-derived pancreatic cells to treat a type 1 diabetic patient. The development of a system for the mass-culture of pluripotent stem cells, such as microcarrier² and suspension ....

Protocol

1. Preparing Materials

1. Prepare 10 mM HEPES buffer. Adjust the pH to 7.0 at RT and add NaCl to 0.9%.
2. Prepare 5% alginate solution and 10 mM EDTA solution by mixing HEPES-buffered saline prepared in 1.1. Adjust the pH to 7.0 at RT.
3. Autoclave the reagents (1.1, 1.2) for 20 min at 121 °C.
4. Prepare gelatin-coated 60 mm dishes layered with 1.2 − 2.0 × 10⁶ mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) cells, which are treated as feeder cells by incubation within DMEM containing 10% ES-qualified FBS and 10 µg/ml of mitomycin C for 90 - 120 min.
5. Maintain mouse induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells on the....

Results

At protocol 2.5, the expelled alginate solution forms a spherical shape immediately after expulsion (Figure 2A – H). If the suspension is expelled with a N₂ flow rate lower than 1L/min, the size of the droplets is uniform (Figure 2I). However, if the N₂ flow is higher than 1L/min, the droplet breaks down (Figure 2G, white arrowed) and the size of the droplets becomes heterogeneous (Figure 2J). Given this, it is difficult to prepare .......

Discussion

Encapsulation culture can be compared with direct suspension cultures. Suspension culture is a simpler method to obtain large quantities of pluripotent stem cells than encapsulation methods. However, controlling the aggregation of cells in suspension culture is still challenging. In encapsulation method, cellular aggregation is limited in capsules and can therefore be well controlled. A previous publication showed that encapsulated cells formed aggregates of uniform size, whereas large cell clumps appeared in a free-susp.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Mouse embryo fibroblast	Cell Biolabs	SNL 76/7
Mouse induced pluripotent stem cell	RIKEN Bio resorce centre	iPS-MEF-Ng-20D-17
DMEM high-glucose	GIBCO	11995
ES qualified  FBS	GIBCO	16141079
Antibacterial Antibiotics	GIBCO	15240
Nonessential Amino Acid	GIBCO	11140
2-mercaptoethanol	GIBCO	21985-023
ESGRO Leukemia Inhibitory Factor	Merck Millipore	ESG1107
Trypsin/EDTA	GIBCO	25300
26 G/16 G needle	Hoshiseido
10 ml Syringe	TERUMO	SS-10ESZ
Sodium  Chloride	Wako	191-01665
HEPES	SIGMA	H4034
Sodium Alginate	Wako	194-09955
Calcium Chloride	Wako	039-00475
Poly-L-lysine (MW = 15,000 - 30,000)	SIGMA	P7890
EDTA	DOJINDO	345-01865
Sylinge pump	AS ONE
Microscope	Olympus	IX71
Microscope	Leica	DM IRB
Hispeed camera	nac image technology	Memrecam HX-3